MEN WANTED 



REV. THOMAS E. TERRY 



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We sincerely regret that some typographical errors 
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consideration of the reader. 



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MEN WANTED 

A SERIES OF ADDRESSES 
TO YOUNG MEN 


BY 

REV. THOMAS E. TERRY 

n 

■y >* 


“I have written unto you, young men, because 
ye are strong.” 





Copyright 1923. 
Thomas E. Terry 



may -5 1923 

©Cl A705431 

A / 


To 

The Memory oe 
My Esteemed Friend. 

John Robinson Todd, A. M., 
Scholar, Teacher, and always 
A Christian Gentleman, 

This Volume is Most Affectionately 

Dedicated. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

God’s Opinion of Man_ 9 

Men Wanted_25 

Ideals, High and Low_41 

Self-Mastery _57 

Social Relations_79 

The Home Maker_107 

Business Ethics_137 

Wrecks _159 

Religion _187 

The Coming Man _207 













THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE. 


Standing on the top of the “Rockies” one 
morning just at sun-rise, and looking afar over 
the beautiful panorama of gray and green, of 
light and shadow that was spread out before 
me, I was deeply impressed with two thoughts: 
the indescribable beauty and grandeur of the 
scene, and the inestimable wealth that lay un¬ 
developed and hidded in the pockets of those 
mountains. 

Such is the impression I get as I view the 
young manhood of our Country. The noblest 
thing on earth is a young man who, realizing 
the potentialities of his being, sets himself 
heroically to the task of developing in himself 
the noblest and best of which he is capable. But 
there are many young men who have never 
found themselves ; who are like the undeveloped 
mines of precious metals, and it is with the hope 
of inspiring all such who may chance to read 
these pages with a proper ambition that this 
book has been written. 

I do not claim for the book high literary 
merit. It is simply a plain discussion of some 



8 


Men Wanted. 


important facts for plain, common sense people. 
It is not the best treatment the subject der- 
serves, but it is the best the author, seeing the 
subject from his viewpoint, has been able to 
make it; and, conceived in a sincere desire to 
be helpful to young men; born of an honest and 
earnest effort, and baptized with prayer that 
the blessing of God may attend its reading, it 
goes forth on its own merits. 


Bridgeville, Del. 
March, 1923. 


T. E. T. 



God’s Opinion of Man. 


“Man that is horn of a woman is of few days 
and full of trouble Job. 

“When I consider thy heavens the work of 
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou 
hast ordained; what is man that thou art mind¬ 
ful of him? And the son of man that thou 
visitest him?” David. 

“What is man that thou shouldest magnify 
him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart 
upon him?” Job. 

“How much then is a man better than a 
sheep?” Jesus. 


It is said that if you go to Boston you will be 
estimated by your educational qualifications, 
“What do you know?” or to Philadelphia by 
your pedigree, “Who was ycur grandfather?” 
or to Chicago by your financial ability, “How 
much are you worth?”. But there is one test 
by which every man ’s value is determined, and 
that is What is God’s estimate of a man’s worth 
and importance? and so, as a fitting introduc¬ 
tion to what is contained in this book, I have 




10 


Men Wanted. 


placed this chapter in the fore-front, following 
the illustrious example of the Author of the 
Pentateuch, and suggesting as an appropriate 
motto for a young man to observe in all his 
earthly relations, “IN THE BEGINNING 
GOD.” 

'A' TV TV* 'Jv* 

There are some persons to whose opinions 
regarding us we attach very little importance. 
We care very little what they may say or think 
of us: their favorable opinion will not excite 
our vanity, nor will their unfavorable criticisms 
cause us to lose any sleep; inoleed there are 
some persons whom we do not care to have 
known as our intimate, personal friends for 
such a relationship would not add anything to 
the esteem in which our best friends hold us, 
neither would it increase our own personal self 
respect. 

But whatever other people may think or say 
of us, either good or evil, in the final analysis 
everything turns on wliat God thinks of us; 
for our security in the present life and our 
future happiness and well-being will depend on 
His approval of our life and conduct. 

God’s estimate of the worth and importance 
of man is shown in various ways; first of all in 
the distinction conferred on man in his creation. 
In addition to the physical creation as in the 
case of all other created beings, God “breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life [lives,] and 
man became a living soul. ’ ’ 


God's Opinion of Man. 11 

By this act of in-breathing the Creator added 
something of His own nature, thus giving to 
man of dual existence: a body created out of 
the dust of the earth, that is mortal and perish¬ 
able, and a spiritual nature that is immortal 
and imperishable. Of this mortal part God 
said to Adam after his transgression, “dust 
thou art and unto dust thou shalt returnbut 
this could only apply to man’s physical nature; 
upon the soul death could have no effect what¬ 
ever. 'While the creative power of God set all 
the physical organs going the spiritual energy 
of the Creator electrified the living soul endow¬ 
ing it with all the powers of reason and intel¬ 
ligence, qualifying man for the task allotted 
him, and with the discriminating conscience 
that condemned him when he had transgressed 
the law of God. 

Power and Authority Conferred. 

And to him God gave dcminion over every¬ 
thing else he had made. Every living thing 
wais subject to him. All Nature, animate and 
inanimate was placed under his control. We 
are often surprised by the scientific discovery 
of latent powers in Nature and these, (to us,) 
new forces are being harnessed and made to 
serve man’s purposes. But man as God made 
and endowed him doubtless knew more about 
these mysterious forces and their adaptability 
to man’s practical uses than the wisest of the 


12 


Men Wanted. 


men of today have yet discovered. How much 
of control of the elements Adam possessed we 
cannot say; but as God’s overseer, and having 
dominion over all his environment, it is not un¬ 
reasonable to suppose that lie had control of 
the very elements; and that had he thought it 
necessary to do so, he could have parted a 
stcrm cloud and could have caused it to pass, 
one half of it on one side of Eden and the other 
half on the opposite side. He stood in order 
next to God, and his powers over nature in the 
exercise of the authority given him must have 
been supreme in the domain under his control. 

Man’s worth and importance in the Devine 
estimation will further appear when we con¬ 
sider not only the authority and power given 
him but also the trust reposed in him. The 
earth with all its stores of wealth and beauty 
was handed over to him to possess and use as 
he might find it necessary. He was to be God’s 
husbandman. God and he were to work to¬ 
gether. God would provide the fruits in their 
season and man was to gather them. God 
would bring the harvests and man was to reap 
them. God stored the mines of the earth with 
the rich mineral deposits and man was to ex¬ 
tract and refine them for his use. In the vege¬ 
table and mineral kingdoms God provided the 
remedy for every disease to which man is sub¬ 
ject, and man was to discover and apply them. 
God would promulgate his law for the govern¬ 
ment of the world, and man was to administer 


God’s Opinion of Man. 


13 


it, and when in the fullness of time God would 
proclaim to man his plan of gospel salvation 
the embodiment of that plan was to be found 
in the teachings of the Son of Man, who was 
also the Son of God, and the message he deliver¬ 
ed was to be sent broadcast wherever man is 
found, not by angelic messengers, but by men 
ordained and commissioned of God for the 
work. 

And so it is that in every good and helpful 
enterprise on earth we find God at the begin¬ 
ning and man in the development, working to¬ 
gether for the glory of God and the uplift and 
blessing of mankind, and when the object and 
purpose of God in any of these enterprises of 
his is carried to a successful and satisfactory 
completion the smile of his approval rests upon 
his co-laborer. “The steps of a good man are 
ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his 
way. ’’ 

How solicitous God is for man’s well being. 
When the Israelites were in Egypt and the 
plagues were desolating the land, having their 
home in Goshen they were exempt from their 
ravages. When they were traversing the hot 
and barren sands of the desert during their 
wilderness journey, he rained down bread from 
the skies for them; he sent them quails for 
meat, and the flinty rock poured forth cold, 
sparkling water for them. 

God’s garners are always full. His stores of 
provision are never exhausted. His supervis- 


14 


Men Wanted. 


ing administration never ceases. He has 
agents everywhere who await his commands. 
The winds and the waves obey his will. The 
raven may be a food-bearer to the hungry, or 
an angel will fly with a message of comfort for 
a broken heart. When some sea of difficulty 
must be crossed an 4 * east wind” will divide its 
waters, and on the farther side of the sea the 
ransomed ones may shout for joy. His promise 
to those who trust and follow where he leads 
is, ‘ ‘ When thou passeth through the waters I 
will be with thee, and through the rivers they 
shall not overflow thee, and through the fire it 
shall not burn thee, neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee.” He does not promise to dry 
up the rivers or to quench the fires. There is a 
river of difficulty and a fire of trial for every 
man in this life; none are exempt from the test¬ 
ing, but the man who trusts and serves God is 
assured of a safe deliverance. 

In the face of all this what a disappointment 
man’s conduct has been to God. But perhaps 
you will say can God be disappointed? Can 
infinite wisdom be surprised? Without enter¬ 
ing into the discussion of the divine foreknow¬ 
ledge, or seeking to reconcile foreknowledge 
with man’s free-agency, or with contingent 
events that may arise involving both fore¬ 
knowledge and free-agency, a few brief quota¬ 
tions from the scriptures may help the reader 
to decide for himself in this matter. In Gene¬ 
sis 6, 6, “It repented the Lord that He had 


Goo’s Opinion of Man. 


15 


made man.” 1st. Sam. 15, 35. 44 The Lord 
repented that He had made Saul king.” Amos 
7; 3, 6. Jonah 3, 10. and other similar passages. 
These passages do not imply that the Creator 
had made a mistake for which he was grieved, 
but that His plans and purposes had been 
thwarted and He was aggrieved thereby; tilled 
with regret, and that implies disappointment. 

God made man in anticipation of a harmon¬ 
ious and happy companionship, but all this was 
changed by man’s wicked rebellion. The de¬ 
lightful association established in Eden was 
forfeited and God and man became estranged 
and were no longer to be intimate and familiar 
with each other. And yet in spite of all this 
there is a relationship that binds the Father 
and the errant child in bonds that cannot be 
broken. 

Although the child has wandered very far 
from the Father, and has forfeited his patri¬ 
mony of spiritual relationship, still he is the 
father’s son. While he has lost everything else 
he still retains the possession of a divine de¬ 
scent that he dares not disregard, and that the 
father will not, cannot deny, and because of 
this relationship God is saying to every fallen 
and ruined son of Adam as he said to Israel of 
old, “Return unto me and I will return unto 
you, and though your sins be as scarlet they 
shall be as white as snow; and though they be 
red like crimson they shall be as wool. ’ ’ 


16 


Men Wanted. 

David’s Question. 

King David, overwhelmed by a serious con¬ 
templation of the starry heavens, and at the 
same time impressed with the comparative in¬ 
significance of man, evclaimed: 4 ‘When I con¬ 
sider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the 
moon and stars which thou hast ordained, what 
is man that thou art mindful of him, or the 
son of man, that thou visitest him?” 

To this question of David’s various answers 
have been given. Plato, who lived 400 years 
before Christ, answered, facetiously, “man is 
a biped without feathers.” But in his more 
serious mood he magnified the importance of 
man. Plato knew nothing of the Christian doc¬ 
trine and belief relative to the creation of the 
world and of man, or of the immortality of the 
soul, and yet he believed both. He believed in 
the existence and power of the Almighty and 
recognized his authority as creator and rightful 
ruler of the world. He believed in the dual 
nature of man, physical and spiritual, body and 
soul. He believed in the immortality of the 
soul; believed that the soul existed before the 
world was made, and that in that pre-existent 
state the soul being related to the Creator was 
intimately associated with him, and thus the 
soul of man became the connecting link between 
God and man, between the Creator and his 
creation. When Plato beheld the forces of 
Nature in action, as, the formative power of 


God’s Opinion of Man. 


17 


motion in water or the eruption of the volcano, 
he said “that is God touching inanimate 
Nature: when he saw the spiritual emotions cf 
man stirred -by some unseen power he said “it 
is God speaking to and through the soul.” 

All the while in Plato’s mind the one purpose 
of God in the creation and preservation of the 
world and all that belongs to it was a prepara¬ 
tion for the advent of man. Everything else 
was created for his use and comfort. Combin¬ 
ing these two ideas, the creation of the world 
for man and the immortality of the soul, Plato 
logically recognized and believed in a future 
existence with rewards for the righteous and 
penalties for the wicked. No wonder the Greeks 
called him “Plato the Divine; The Son of 
Apollo.” 

David’s question is answered by some pro¬ 
fessedly wise men today who teach that man is 
simply the highest development of animal life 
on earth, as set forth in Charles R. Darwin’s 
book: “The Origin cf Species by Means of 
Natural Selection.” According to this theory 
man is not a Divine Creation but merely the 
highest evolution of living creatures, and his 
immediate forefather is the monkey. In answer 
to this prc position it is enough to say that when 
monkeys display the evidence of having a moral 
conscience, when they hold religious services 
and organize systematic charities it will be 
time enough to recognize the chimpanzee, the 


18 


Men Wanted. 


baboon or the orangoutang as the immediate 
progenitor of the human race. 

The weakness of Darwinism and all the rest 
of these anti-christian isms is that, regarding 
man as simply a creature of earthly origin and 
but little removed from the brute, they deal 
only with his carnal nature and earthly exis¬ 
tence, and their highest conception of human 
nature and of human possibilities is the final 
product of a series of evolutions which, as they 
say, are ever working toward an ideal human- 

itv. 

•/ _ 

Following the ignis fatuus of godless reason, 
these men would de-humanize man and dethrone 
God as the Creator. They classify man as an 
animal, which he is not: he does not belong in 
that class at all. He is MAN, combining in one 
pers nality a living physical body and an im¬ 
mortal soul, superior to the animal creation; 
a class distinctly referred to by the Creator 
and certified as such through all the ages, and 
his classification will persist eternally. He is 
not an animal on earth neither will he be an 
angel in heaven; He is the masterpiece of crea¬ 
tion and the son of God. 

David answers his own question thus: 
“Thou hast made him a little lower than the 
angels, [Less than God for a little time,] and 
hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou 
madest him to have dominion over the work of 
thy hands; thou hast put all things under his 
feet.” Who can reverently consider the mean- 


God's Opinion of Man. 


19 


ing of this declaration and not feel as David 
felt, or as Keplar felt when overwhelmed with 
the thought of God suggested by a reverent 
contemplation of the heavens, and went walk¬ 
ing through the skies thinking God’s thoughts 
over after him. 

We do not know how much David knew about 
astronomy, but if he only understood the vast¬ 
ness of our own little “system” composed of 
the Sun, which is its center, the earth and seven 
other planets, he might well have been swept 
by emotions of wonder at the magnitude of the 
Avorks of God and the apparent unimportance 
of man. Passing by the smaller planets of our 
system Mercury, Mars and Venus, we find 
Jupiter at a mean distance from the sun of 
500.000.000. of miles, having four moons of his 
own instead of one as we have. Out beyond 
Jupiter at a distance of 881.000.000. of miles 
from the sun we find Saturn with his beautiful 
rings. Out beyond Saturn we come to Uranus 
at a mean distance from the sun 1.771.000.000. 
miles traveling through space at the rate of 252 
miles a minute. Next and last of our system we 
find Nepture at a mean distance from the sun 
of 2.775.000.000. of miles. Can you grasp the 
thought suggested by this little excursion 
through the heavens? Perhaps we may sim¬ 
plify somewhat bv illustration. Let us suppose 
that some venturesome aeronaut had started 
from the sun to fly to Nepture when “In the 
beginning God created the heavens and the 

o < J 


20 


Men Wanted. 


earth,” and had flown continuously until now, 
flying at the rate of 500 miles a day he 
would still have to fly, if our chrcnology is 
correct, a thousand and six hundred years to 
reach the half-way line. 

All of these planets measure their years as 
we do ours, 'by a passage in their orbits around 
the sun. In doing this Jupiter requires twelve 
of cur years to make one of his; Saturn thirty; 
Uranus eighty four, and Neptune something 
over one hundred and sixty four of our years 
for a single transit. So accurate, are the move¬ 
ments of all these planets that in all the years 
of the past not cne of them has ever been one 
minute late in coming up to the starting point 
to begin another race around the sun. 

Eember that this is only our little system of 
which we are speaking, that might drop out of 
the heavens and not be missed by the casual 
observer. But there is nothing in all the starry 
skies that can compare in the divine estimation 
with the tiniest babe that coos in its mother \s 
arms. Man is the key that unlocks every mys¬ 
tery in the scheme of Creation. All that is in¬ 
volved in the divine creation and government 
finds its explanation in the divine regard for 
man and the place he occupies in the thought 
of God. 

Immortality the Impelling Cause. 

The real secret of the importance of man in 


God's Opinion of Man. 


21 


God's estimation can only be understood by 
‘considering* man's immortal nature and his 
capability for good or evil, for happiness or 
misery. This immortal nature is often obscur¬ 
ed by carnal propensities, and the divinity that 
is in man is thereby hidden and we are apt to 
think that the man is entirely bad. His only 
object in living seems to be carnal indulgence 
and the gratification of evil desires and ap¬ 
petites. To us it seems to be a case beyond 
the reach of any rejuvinating power cr agency 
to retrieve and save. But there are really few 
if any of these social outcasts in whom some 
good desires, some noble aspirations do not 
linger, and God can see the striving of that 
living spark. He knows that though the lost 
coin is corroded by sin it still bears the marks 
that show its origin and indicate its worth. 
The image of the king is still there. That image 
is imperishable and can be restored, and He 
who claims the social outcast and the moral 
reprobate for his own; He who “came to seek 
and to save that which was lost," will not be 
satisfied until the prodigal has returned to the 
Father's house. One immortal soul, in the 
scales of God outweighs the universe of perish¬ 
ing things. 

Strange as it may appear, in spite of all the 
indisputable proofs of the truth of man’s im¬ 
mortality, there are those who close their eyes 
to the light of all reason as well as revealed 
truth, and blindly declare they do not believe 

7 ml •' 


22 


Men Wanted. 


in the doctrine of immortality, and would bury 
in the grave this most precious hope that was 
ever kindled within the human heart. 

The Atheist denies the existence of God, and 
with that there goes, of course, also the denial 
of any super-physical or spiritual nature in 
man. The infidel denies the divinity of Jesus 
Christ and with that denial goes the repudia¬ 
tion of all that Jesus taught concerning the 
resurrection of the dead and a post-resurrec¬ 
tion life. The Agnostic, the champion of that 
modern conglomeration of bigoted selfconceit 
and boasting ignorance, says: 4 ‘there may be 
a future life but we dont know whether there is 
or not, and in the absence of satisfactory proof 
we doubt the fact of any future existence. 

These men are entirely unable to account for 

the existence of man on earth so far as anv 

•> 

fixed purpose is concerned. According to their 
idea, man is a sort of come-by-chance, with no 
definite objective in life, and their only philos¬ 
ophy, if philosophy it may be called, is the 
survival of the fittest ? % a kind of every-man-for 
himself doctrine. Life is devoid of purpose and 
death is simply the end of an existence that is 
no longer worth prepetuating. Earth to earth, 
ashes to ashes, dust to dust is the sad, final end 
to a human life. Here humanity and the brute 
creation find a common end, and oblivion as 
black as Erebus follows when the day of life 
on earth ends. 

But all the cavils and doubts of unbelievers 


23 


God’s Opinion of Man. 

do not, cannot change a single item in the 
fundamental constitution of things relating to 
man’s spiritual life and existence. Denial of 
the truth disproves nothing. Man is constitu¬ 
tionally immortal: God has declared it and 
man’s innate convictions affirm the glorious 
doctrine of life immortal and eternal. 

An epitome of this whole matter is contained 
in the words of Jesus in his own definition of 
the meaning and purpose of His incarnation, 
and of His whole life and ministry on earth 
when He said: 4 ‘God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever 
believetli in Him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life.” For every soul that is lost 
Jesus Christ died in vain. He gave himself a 
ransom for it. He suffered that the soul might 
escape suffering. He died that the soul might 
live. The soul that is lost defeats the whole 
economy of God in His dealings with men, so 
far as that soul is concerned. It limits the 
effect of the great plan of redemption inau¬ 
gurated by Jesus when He commissioned His 
Apostles to “go and preach the gospel to every 
creature.” Every soul that is lost is lost in 
spite of the fact that God has done His best to 
save it. The best plan that Infinite Wisdom 
could devise has been inaugurated, and the best 
possible means employed for its effectiveness. 
Divine wisdom could devise nothing better; 
infinite love could stoop no lower, for He hum¬ 
bled Himself that He might bring us to Him¬ 
self. 


24 


Men Wanted. 


And now understanding something of what 
the thought of God toward man is; having some 
conception of God’s estimate of man’s worth 
and importance; considering what God has 
done and is doing for the realization of His 
purpose in man; what is the supreme dictate of 
reason regarding our attitude toward Him and 
the conservation of our own highest and best 
good, here and hereafter? 44 What doth the 
Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to 
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” 
Could even infinite love require less than this? 
It is difficult to realize how an intelligent mind 
possessing even a modicum of gratitude can 
refuse compliance with so reasonable a condi¬ 
tion. And yet the fact stares us continually 
in the face that there are those who “choose 
darkness rather than light” and withhold from 
God their willing service which by every prin¬ 
ciple of right is justly due to Him. 

But if men will not be persuaded to forsake 
error for the truth; if they will choose darkness 
rather than light; then let the atheist scoff; 
let the evolutionist hie to his den and pride 
himself if he will on his arboreal ancestrv; let 
the agnostic glory in his ignorance; let the 
rationalist follow the ignis fatuus that has be¬ 
witched him until he falls into the ditch toward 
which he is heading, but give the rest of us the 
hope that has for its objective IMMORTALITY 
AND ETERNAL LIFE. 


Men Wanted. 


“Show thyself a man.” St. Paul. 

“A yood man is the ripe fruit our earth holds 
up to God .” John Milton. 

“A man ought to carry himself in the world 
as an orange-tree would if it could walk up and 
down in the garden—swinging perfume from 
every little censer it holds up to the air.” 

H. W. Beecher. 

“Character is like every other structure — 
nothing tests it like extremes.” 

Newell Dwight Hillis. 


As I passed up the street one morning these 
words, displayed on a strip of canvass attached 
to a United States flag, arrested my attention. 
The flag was floating from the front of what 
proved to he a recruiting office where men were 
being enlisted for service in our army and navy. 

It was not the first time I had seen such a no¬ 
tice posted, but somehow at this particular time 
my attention was strangely arrested by it, and 
as I passed on my way those two words: “Men 
Wanted” held my thought, and as I pondered 
over the matter a strange importance attached 
itself to the meaning of the word “men.” 




26 


Men Wanted. 


I knew that there were certain conditions that 
must be complied with in order to constitute 
the applicants men within the meaning of the 
call for volunteers: as, the applicant must be 
of a certain higlit and weight; he must be within 
certain age limits; he must be sound, body and 
mind; and must also be a man against whom no 
charges of gross immorality can be successfully 
made. 

The call everywhere today is for men. All 
the great business enterprises of the country; 
industrial, commercial, and financial are call¬ 
ing for men : brave, strong, virile, manly men 
who can be depended upon under every condi¬ 
tion and circumstance to meet their obligations 
and do their duty. Men who can stem the tide 
of selfishness and narrowmindedness, and view 
mankind with broad and liberal vision; men 
who can oppose the spirit of commercialism 
that is everywhere eating the life and heart out 
of our social and religious organizations; men 
who will cry against the immorality that is 
digging everywhere at the foundations of civic 
righteousness; men who can denounce and ex¬ 
pose the dishonesty and malfeasance of trusted 
officials that is distroying confidence in our 
financial institutions and filling our jails and 
penitentiaries with erstwhile trusted em¬ 
ployees. 

Never before in our national history has 
there been such urgent necessity for the dis¬ 
play of civic righteousness there is today. 


Men Wanted. 


27 


Men seem not only to have forgotten God, but 
human rights, and even human life are treated 
with contempt. The moral sense is not only 
apathetic, callous, it is dead and indifferent to 
very much of the evils that could be easily cor¬ 
rected if a competent leadership would arouse 
the masses to the necessity for action. We need 
a few Barbary Hecks in the religious realm and 
a few Patrick Henrys in the political affairs of 
the nation, while the whole social and indus¬ 
trial community is sadly in need of readjust¬ 
ment and reconstruction. 

An obtuse moral sense winks at crying evils. 
With the immoral and vicious classes the only 
deterrent that restrains from crime seems to 
be the fear of being found out and punished; 
and even that fear is largely modified by the 
hope of leniency on the part of the administra¬ 
tors of the law. Both the Law and the Gospel 
seem to have lost much of their restraining 
power, and this fact is perhaps due to a dis¬ 
position to coddle evildoers with a maudlin 
sentiment that pities where it ought to punish, 
because of some political or previous social in¬ 
fluence. Let those who are charged with the 
execution of the law remember that they are 
responsible to the law-abiding classes: they are 
the custodians of the peace and the well being 
of the people. 

And as to the Gospel; has it lost its restrain¬ 
ing power! If so the loss can only be attribut¬ 
ed to the administration by those appointed 


28 


Men Wanted. 


to preach and enforce its teachings. Of all the 
misfortunes that can befall us as a people, good 
Lord deliver us from an effeminate, timid 
sycophant in the pulpit who has ever before 
his eyes the fear of men and not the fear of 
God, and who subordinates his sacred calling to 
the matter of winning for himself a name by 
44 popular’’ preaching: by 4 ‘mixing the bitter 
text with relish suited to the sinner’s taste.” 
Subjectively, a man is what he thinks; what he 
loves; what he aspires to be. The gauge of a 
man is what he says; wliat he approves, and 
what he does. The good man is always capable 
of doing better than the best he has done, and 
the bad man is always capable of exceeding his 
wi rst. Every honest effort toward excellence 
in any direction increases capacity for some¬ 
thing better, and every surrender to the sug¬ 
gestions of the baser nature; every indulgence 
of the evil propensities of the human heart 
strengthens those propensities and prepares a 
man for further indulgences and greater ex¬ 
cesses. Moral and Christian character, like the 
mountain oak, grows with the lapse of years 
and the exigencies of human life and experience. 

Heredity is Either a Help or a Handicap. 

The making of a man begins in being well 
born. No man can develop out of his own life 
any trait of character that was not given him 
by inheritance from his forefathers. The boy 


Men Wanted. 


29 


is the father of the man. The acorn gathered 
from the oak will never develop a palmtree. 
The Ethiopian cannot change the color of his 
skin; neither can the leopard change his spots. 
The law of heredity is as fixed and unchangable 
as the law of gravitation cr any other of 
Nature’s laws. 

The only thing we can do by way of develop¬ 
ment is to develop the good as the farmer 
cultivates his crop, increasing the growth of 
the crop and at the, same time uprooting and 
destroying the weeds and filth that would choke 
it, and thus overrun and suppress the evil ten¬ 
dencies, that in their unrestricted development 
would overshadow if not destroy the nobler 
propensities and higher aspirations of the soul. 

The law of gravity would hold a locomotive 
down at the lowest level; but we substitute 
another law when we apply the power of steam 
to the locomotive and drive it up to the top of 
the grade. So the evil propensities of our 
nature would hold us down: yielding to the 
prompting of our carnal nature would make us 
sensual and voluptuous; creatures of passion; 
slaves to the lusts of the flesh; but by cultivat¬ 
ing the nobler, higher impulses of our being, 
we may rise to the honorable position of the 
kind of men the country, the church, and society 
are calling for, and that in spite of the handicap 
of an evil and antagonistic heredity. But this 
all depends on the man himself. 

Mother-wit, usually denominated common 


30 


Men Wanted. 


sense, is one of the choicest possessions of man, 
and it is among the rarest. There are young 
men by the thousand who have had the advan¬ 
tage of the best schools, but who for lack of 
c: mmon sense have never made any profitable 
use of what they have learned. The colleges 
and universities are not in the business of fur¬ 
nishing the stuff that men are made of: they 
can develop and polish, but they cannot make 
a man. Educate a man and he will make a good 
citizen, a good business man; but educate a 
fool and he will be a fool at the last. 

The Importance of Proper Equipment. 

Given a man to begin with, even though he 
may not be rich in natural endowment but who 
is possessed of manly instincts and is moved 
by noble impulses, and he will build to success 
and he will win the respect and confidence of 
the se who know him. But his success in the 
great life battle will be proportionate to the 
degree of preparation he has made for his work. 

The most important part of every building is 
the part that is under ground. The foundation is 
fundamental to the rest of the establishment; 
the first to be constructed and the last to be 
destroyed. Jesus Christ likens the man who 
obeys his teachings to a man who built his 
house upon a rock, and when the storm and 
tempest came that swept other buildings away 
‘‘it fell not, because it was founded upon rock.” 


Men Wanted. 


31 


So the habits a young man forms; the 
choices he makes of companions; the books he 
reads; the tastes he cultivates are the founda¬ 
tion stones he is laying on which to rear the 
superstructure of his life and character, and if 
the foundations be of the right sort his future 
will be safe and honorable. 

Habits of industry early formed lead in later 
life to thrift and prosperity, and just as surely 
will habits of lazy indifference, sloth, and in¬ 
dolence lead to poverty, profligacy and want. 
You can scarcely find in the world today among 
the great captains of industry and finance one 
whose early life was not spent as an apprentice 
at some useful trade. The men who have risen 
to prominence either in commercial and indus¬ 
trial affairs or in the professions; in commerce 
or in statecraft, are the men who, having in 
themselves the native qualities essential to suc¬ 
cess, have developed these qualities by close 
application and hard work. Nothing can ex¬ 
cuse a spirit of indolence and laziness in a 
young man, no matter how wealthy his father 
may be; a proper conception of his own per¬ 
sonal independence will not consent to be a 
leech and live on the life blood of any other 
person on earth; it would unman him in his 
own estimation. 

The education of the thoroughly equipped 
young man is complete in two parts: literary 
acquirement and industrial training. The for¬ 
mer may include the university course or it 


32 


Men Wanted. 


may stop short of that, but the young man who 
goes out into the professional or business life 
of today without a sufficient education must be 
all his life at serious disadvantage. How often 
we see men who by some fortunate business 
venture, or, it may be by the well directed 
efforts of native business talent, have succeeded 
financially and as a result are thrown with men 
at the front in commercial or political affairs, 
but whc for lack of sufficient educational quali¬ 
fication are always at discount among their fel¬ 
low men, and always show the handicap of 
their ignorance; as was the case with a man 
who a few years ago, by use of his knowledge 
of a particular business suddenly became rich, 
and, seized with political ambition, by some 
means got himself elected to the United States 
Senate. 

One day this senator was invited to accom¬ 
pany some gentlemen on a pleasure trip, and 
for some reason having gotten the idea that 
they were going cn foot, he declined. When 
they returned and reported having had a de¬ 
lightful tally-ho trip, he said: well, if I had ’a 
knowed I could ’a rid, I would ’a went.” And 
he a United States Senator! 

Boorishness is a sin, not only against the 
rules of good society, but against the young 
man who practices it. Rudeness, impoliteness, 
is inexcusable in a young man always, any¬ 
where, and in any company. Of all things a 
young man ought to always to be a gentleman. 


Men Wanted. 


33 


There are some who seem to think they must 
he gentlemanly in the presence of ladies, but 
that in the absence of ladies they are at liberty 
to indulge in conversation that would not be 
allowable if ladies were present. No language 
or conduct of any sort is becoming in a young 
man anywhere on earth that would be improper 
in the presence of his mother and sisters. 

Polite manners always mark the gentleman 
no matter where you may find him: whether in 
the palace of the rich man or in the cottage of 
the peasant; whether clothed in purple and fine 
linen or in homespun, and dont forget that you 
may find him in either of these environments. 

Thackeray asks the question: 11 what is it to 
be a gentleman?” Is it to have lofty aims, to 
lead a pure life, to keep your honor virgin, to 
have the esteem of your fellow citizens and the 
love of your own fireside, to bear good fortune 
meekly; to suffer evil with constancy, and 
thrcugh evil and good to maintain truth al¬ 
ways?” There is nothing to be added to that 
definition. Certainly to maintain such a life is 
to place one far above any level to which one 
can attain by merely being the descendant of 
hereditary aristocracy, or boasting the posses¬ 
sion of “blue blood.” 

Pitiful indeed is the case of the young man 
who must establish his claim to social respect¬ 
ability by proving himself the son of honorable 
parents. Every young man ought to command 
the respect ordinarily accorded to a gentleman 


34 


Men Wanted. 


by his life and conduct entirely aside from all 
such considerations. 

These are days of ancestry hunting: musty 
old court records are being searched, and mar¬ 
riage and baptismal records are being examin¬ 
ed by hired expert genealogists in the effort to 
find noted ancestral names; but after all this, 
and in spite of success or failure in this effort, 
the rating of a young man depends entirely oil 
what he really is in and of himself. In these 
days of hustle and push a man cannot succeed 
in winning his way simply on his grandfather’s 
record. Disraeli might say as he is said to have 
done when conversing with some of his acquain¬ 
tances who were boasting of their ancestry: 
“I can trace my ancestry back to Moses who 
walked and talked with God on Mt. Sinai 
fifteen hundred years before Christ was born. ” 
but this was not what promoted him from the 
humble position of an unheralded jewish lad 
who never attended a public school or univer¬ 
sity; who had neither wealth nor political in¬ 
fluence in his favor, through various positions 
of trust and responsibility up to the highest 
and most honored position under the Queen of 
the greatest empire the sun ever shone upon. 
His promotion came because lie was competent 
to fill the positions to which lie successively 
rose, and his capability was the result of care¬ 
ful and persistent application in the develop¬ 
ment of his native ability and the cultivation 
of polite manners that entitled him to the con- 


Men Wanted. 35 

fidence and respect of the people as a gentle¬ 
man. 

It is all very well to be able to trace your 
ancestry through a line of noble and honorable 
persons, but that alone will not open the way 
to the confidence and respect of the people cf 
this generation. We are living in a critical 
age, and every man must demonstrate his right 
to a place among honorable men if he would 
share their good opinions. 

In the business affairs of the world one’s 
standing will turn mainly on three things: 
First of all, is he a man of unquestionable 
character and can he be trusted! Second, is he 
competent: has he business capacity! A man 
may have either of these and lack the other; 
and the lack c f either is a serious matter. The 
third is, has he experience: has he demonstrat¬ 
ed his abilitv and trustworthiness; has he 
“made good!” P. D. Armour, speaking as a 
business man, said “Pedigree is nothing, it all 
lies in the man: you do or you do not.” There 
is the end of the matter, and no matter who 
may or may not have been your grandfather. 

As to one’s social standing; the question that 
determines a young man’s respectability is, “is 
he a gentleman!” Does he know the propri¬ 
eties of p r life society, and does he observe 
them! Is he a man of good moral character! 
It is an awful reflection on the life and charac¬ 
ter of a young man for a parent to say to his 
son or daughter, “I do not want you to associ- 


36 


Men Wanted. 


ate with that young man: he is not a suitable 
companion for you.” Many a young man lias 
found the doors of some heme closed against 
him for that reason, and he has wondered why 
it was so. 

There is perhaps no greater factor in deter¬ 
mining one’s social status than cur unconscious 
influence: the effect of the things we say and 
do when off our guard without particular re¬ 
gard to the propriety of our conduct, but things 
that impress others favc rably or unfavorably 
toward us. The young man who indulges in 
the use of filthy or profane language or in 
vicious habits of any sort, is simply building 
between himself and the best society an insur¬ 
mountable wall cf separation. Sparkling wit, 
even though it may be tainted with a shade of 
impurity, may sometimes provoke laughter 
that would seem to excuse the vulgarity, and 
the story-teller may imagine that the laughter 
indicates approval or appreciation when in 
truth it is expressive of derision, and of con¬ 
tempt for such mixing of wit with uncleanness. 
A pure fountain cannot send forth impure 
water, neither can a pure nature send forth 
impure conduct and conversation. 

The evil influences with which we come in 

contact in our intercourse with the world mav 

•/ 

not be, necessarily, harmful; we may bv watch¬ 
fulness and rigid moral discipline, be immune 
from them; but as no character is stronger 
than its weakest part, and as we are liable to 


Men W ANTED. 


37 


overestimate our own strength, and, perhaps 
are unconscious of our own weak points, they 
are often dangerous because of the disposition 
in us to be influenced by them. 

Like the sensitive plate in the camera the 
human soul catches the impression of what¬ 
ever is focalized upon it, hence the importance 
of avoiding evil associations that may tempt us 
to do wrong. Jesus the great teacher of morals 
said as bearing on this matter: “Whosoever 
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath com¬ 
mitted adultery already with her in his heart/’ 
So, to look with lustful eye actually puts the 
beholder in the class of actual transgressors. 

For a long time the Siamese kept chains 
stretched across the entrance of their harbors 
lest foreigners should enter there bringing 
their western ideas with them and thus con¬ 
taminate the morals of their young men. How¬ 
ever erroneous their ideas may have been from 
a commercial standpoint, their conduct offers 
a good suggestion for the safeguarding of a 
young man’s mental and moral nature. When¬ 
ever any matter of questionable moral influence 
is suggested while it might not be wrong to do 
the thing, it cannot be wrong not to do it. 

Solomon, in his advice to the young men of 
his day exhorts them to “keep thy heart with 
all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life; 
* * # for as a man thinketh in his heart, so 

is he.” Human conduct is but the expression 
of our secret thoughts, and often the unpre- 


38 


Men Wanted. 


mediated act or word has, under some strong, 
impelling influence, revealed some latent moral 
obliquity of which the man has, perhaps, 
thought himself incapable. 

The human heart is not unlike one of our 
great cities that is cosmopolitan in its popula¬ 
tion and interrelated commercially and indus¬ 
trially to all the world. Like the converging 
lines of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones 
that keep the city in touch with international 
commerce and trade, so the heart has its lines 
of communication through the eye, the ear, and 
the passions that are common to human nature, 
and all these avenues of approach must be 
jealously guarded, admitting all that is good 
and helpful and excluding all that is deleterious 
and of a demoralizing tendency. 

‘ 4 Keep thy hearts 9 All thy heart. Watch 
every avenue that leads into it. We must make 
a covenant with our eyes that we will not look 
with complaisancy on the things that will 
awaken impure thoughts, and with our ears, 
that we will not listen to the songs that would 
entice us to engage in that which will blunt the 
moral sensibilities; and we must declare war 
on every evil passion if we would have clean 
hearts. 

We may refrain from doing the things that 
are impolite; we may restrain our lips from 
profanity and vulgarity; we may refuse to be 
identifiyed with anything that is of question¬ 
able moral tendency—all this outwardly, while 


Men Wanted. 


39 


at the same time if the heart is not pure and 
clean even a glance of the eye may suggest an 
evil thought that may befoul the mind, and that, 
later, in some ungarded moment may lead to 
an act that may result in our everlasting un¬ 
doing. King David was caught with a glance 
of his eye through his palace window and that 
glance lead to his commission of the sin that 
dimmed the lustre of his life and reign, and 
drew from his penitential lips the bitter con¬ 
fession and prayer contained in the fifty first 
psalm. 

The cry coming from every quarter of the 
world today, from every profession, from every 
social and religious organization is give us 
MEN. GIVE US MEN. 





Ideals, High and Low. 


“F or getting those things which are behind, 
and pressing forth unto those things which are 
before, I press toward the mark for the prize 
of the high culling of God in Christ Jesus.” 

St. Paul. 

“If we desire to be good, we must first of all 
desire to be brave, that against all opposition, 
scorn, and danger we may move straight on¬ 
ward to do the right .” 

Henry Van Dyke, D. D. 

“It is not the man who drifts with the current 
of evil, but he, ivho, like the sure-anchored rock, 
stems the current, that is sure to arrest the 
popular attention and command the popular 
heart.” L. Cuyler, D. D. 


Joseph Cook, preacher, author, lecturer, 
when asked on the day he graduated from 
college, “Mr. Cook, what do you propose as 
your calling in life?” replied: “My purpose 
and ambition in life is to be a teacher of 
teachers.” Those who are familar with the life 
and work of Mr. Cook know how fully his am¬ 
bition was realized. The man who could con¬ 
vene and hold for an hour and a half three 




42 


Men Wanted. 


thousand Bostonians at the noon hour every 
Monday for several months consecutively, cer¬ 
tainly had mastered the art of teaching. 

Every young man has or ought to have some 
supreme purpose and ambition in life for the 
attainment of which he will bend every energy, 
whatever the cost, and for which he will sacri¬ 
fice, if need be, everything else that is of less 
value to him, and the possession of which would 
hinder him from gaining the goal of his am¬ 
bition. In order to attain to any great degree 
of success in any enterprise of any sort one 
must have an ideal constantly before him, and 
he must persistently strive to attain to it. No 
man ever yet has risen above the standard of 
his own ideal. 

Mind, I say his own ideal. No young man is 
justified in merely trying to do as well as some 
one else has done. His only justification lies 
in doing the veiy best that he can do. 1 6 Tower¬ 
ing genius disdains a beaten path; it seeks 
regions heretofore unexplored. It scorns to 
tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, how¬ 
ever great.” Men who are satisfied with easy 
conquests, “do not belong to the family of the 
lion or the brood of the eagle.” We should 
select the very best of everything, and aim at 
the highest and best of whatever we undertake. 

An ideal that is within easy reach con satisfy 
only a laggard. Frederick Harrison, speaking 
for himself and for his fellow religionists says: 
“Our creed is an endless progress toward an 


Ideals High and Low. 


43 


ideal, never perhaps to be reached, but to be 
ideally cherished in hope.” While we cannot 
endorse Mr. Harrison’s creed in religious mat¬ 
ters, yet in the ordinary affairs of every day 
life, it is a splendid moto for every young man. 

Having business that called me into the office 
of a friend of mine one evening I found him 
engaged in conversation with a traveling sales¬ 
man who shortly withdrew, and when he had 
retired my friend said to me; “that fellow cer¬ 
tainly is a competent judge of a good cigar”— 
he was then smoking one the young man had 
given him while they talked business. And, 
said he, “I reckon he knows the make-up of 
every brand of cigars that are made in this 
country. ’ ’ 

My friend’s statement impressed me, and I 
said to myself, yes, and possibly he knows the 
flavor of every brand of liquor that is either 
distilled or brewed—for he looked like one who 
indulged pretty freely; and perhaps he would 
be an authority on all the various pastimes and 
amusements etc. etc. But I wonder if he would 
be a competent authority and safe judge of 
good literature and other things that are of 
the most importance to a young man who is 
trying to make the most of himself! 

We may differ widely in our opinions as to 
the propriety of indulging in the things that 
are included in the term “pastimes,” both as 
to the moral quality of the amusement and to 
the extent to which these may claim our time 


44 


Men Wanted. 


and attention. I shall not attempt to set any 
inflexible standard here—no one has a right 
to attempt such a thing; but there is one com¬ 
mon ground where we must all agree, namely, 
these are not the things that are of most im¬ 
portance. At the very best, as it relates to the 
sober duties and responsibilities of life, they 
are only what the dessert is to the substantial 
meal; very moderately to be indulged in, and, 
most frequently, perhaps, best to be passed by 
entirely. 

The men who have risen to prominence in 
world affairs, indulged in no excesses, and 
rarely had need of the ordinary amusements. 
When a man has preformed an honest days 
labor, the quiet of his own fireside with his 
family around him and the repose of his own 
bed-chamber are vastly more refreshing than 
the excitement of the playhouse, or the idle 
gossip of the “social club.” 

This life is a great mission fraught with 
infinite responsibilities; and only he who meets 
those responsibilities with a manly spirit and 
in the fear of Ghxl can face the eternal Judge 
with any assurance of receiving his coveted 
plaudit of “well done.” “The law of worthy 
living is not fulfilled by pleasure, but by ser¬ 
vice, and by sacrifice when only thereby can 
service be rendered.” 

Nothing has been more clearly demonstrated 
than that the regularity of proper habits dur¬ 
ing the days of youth adds to the strength of 



Ideals High and Low. 


45 


the man in later years, and to his powers of 
endurance under the stress of the unavoidable 
trials of life. 

Carnal indulgence is death to mental and 
moral development. The weak and flabby 
muscles of the sensualist are incapable of dis¬ 
playing manly vigor or heroic effort. You can¬ 
not transmit through a cotton string an electric 
current, and no sooner can you display the 
nobility of manly character through a life that 
is given over to self indulgence in which the 
carnal nature is supreme. That which distin¬ 
guishes man from the brute creation is the god¬ 
like in him, and this can only be promoted by 
contact with the things that are pure and clean, 
and of an elevating tendency. 

Our Christian civilization is but the united 

effort of moral and Christian citizens to realize 

their ideal in moral and civic righteousness. 

Had our forefathers who landed at Plvmouth 

•/ 

Rock been profligates instead of Puritans, our 
American civilization would have been S( me- 
thing entirely different from what it is. Had 
we, as a nation, maintained the high standard 
they set up we would be nearer the divine idea 
of what this nation was intended to be, and 
what it ought to be, and what the young men 
of today can make it if they will. 

The Importance of Self Knowledge. 

“Know thyself, and fear thy God” is an 
aphorism with which we are all very familiar, 


46 


Men Wanted. 


and it is pregnant with meaning. Know thyself. 
Recognize your own individuality. Jean Paul 
Richter says he distinctly remembered the time 
when the revelation of himself to himself came. 

He says: “On a certain forenoon, I stood, a 
very young child, within the door of my home 
looking out toward the wood-pile, when, in a 
instant, the inner revelation I am 7, like light¬ 
ning from heaven, flashed and stood brightly 
before me. In that moment I had seen myself 
as I for the first time and forever.” Knowing 
one’s self reallv and fullv, means not alone the 
recognition of separate individuality to which 
Richter refers: it means that we recognize the 
attributes, powers, and constitutional elements 
that make up our individuality, and that dis¬ 
tinguish us from every other man on earth. It 
means knowing one’s possibilities and peculiar 
adaptabilities to the affairs of life. 

Andrew Carnegie the steel king could not 
have done the work of Thomas A. Edison, the 
electrical wizard if he had tried, nor could Mr. 
Edison have done the work of Mr. Carnegie: 
and if they had tried each to do the work of 
the other they would have failed, and the world 
would have lost the benefit of the labors and 
discoveries of both of these great men. 

No doubt a large majority of the men who 
have honestly tried and failed in the business 
affairs of life owe their misfortune to the fact 
that they embarked in business or professional 
life for which they were not by nature fitted; 


Ideals High and Low. 


47 


and so we have a lot of mis-fits where a good 
farmer, or mechanic has been sacrificed to 
make a fifth-rate doctor, or lawyer or preacher. 
Therefore know yourself as to your qualifica¬ 
tions and your limitations, and apply yourself 
diligently to the calling for which the Creator 
has fitted you, and success is yours: but if you 
choose otherwise you at once invite failure and 
defeat. There is but one calling in which any 
man can be his greatest success: he may suc¬ 
ceed measurably at something else, but he can 
never do his best except in that calling for 
which God intended him. You have no more 
business in another man’s calling than you have 
in his home uninvited. 

A business calling is a sacred matter. Men 
are called of God to all honorable business 
pursuits just as certainly and as clearly as 
they are called to the ministry of the gospel. 
Abraham Lincoln was called of God tc the 
presidency of the United States just as certain¬ 
ly as the apostle Paul was called to preach the 
gospel to the Gentiles. Furthermore, in the 
faithful discharge of the duties imposed by 
any position to which God has called a man, he 
is entitled to equal respect; no matter how 
subordinate or unimportant that position may 
seem to others; as though he occupied some 
other place which, because of its greater re¬ 
sponsibilities, may seem more honorable. David 
said: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the 
house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of 


48 


Men Wanted. 


wickedness.” Better be a good and faithful 
sexton in the house of God faithfully perform¬ 
ing the duties of the office than be a mitred 
bishop without the ability to discharge the du¬ 
ties cf so high and honorable position. It is 
not the office but the man who makes the posi¬ 
tion honorable. Better be a first rate man in 
a third rate position with a chance for promo¬ 
tion, than be a third rate man in a first rate 
place with the constant dread of being dismissed 
for inefficiency. 

The Stair or The Toboggan. 

Even a divine fitting and a divine calling do 
not assure success of themselves: to these there 
must be added manly effort. The difference 
between the life and habits of the man who 
strives toward a high ideal in life and the man 
who drifts aimlessly with the tide, seeking only 
selfish ease and relief from responsibility, is 
the difference between climbing the stair and 
sliding down the toboggan. He who under¬ 
takes the mastery of self and the development 
of a stalwart character will find that he has no 
holiday junket on his hands. He who seeks to 
master the world; to possess its wealth; to 
make his impression on its business affairs or 
to direct the currents of its thought, must con¬ 
sent to toil. He must climb, and he must climb 
just a step at a time. It will be up-hill work. 
It will be a lifetime job. No one great effort 


Ideals High and Low. 49 

will accomplish the task. No one great battle 
will end the war. 

The young man whose one ambition is to 
make life easy, who despises labor; who shuns 
responsibility; who has no higher ambition 
than to get through the world like the hermit 
crab, expecting the tides of fortune to bring 
him his living gratuitiously, has already taken 
his seat in the toboggan, and will most likely 
find coming true in his case the saying that, 
4 ‘ when a fellow gets started down hill, every¬ 
thing seems to have been greased for the oc¬ 
casion. ” It is very easy to become a tramp: it 
requires no capital and but little clothing; re¬ 
quires no provision for house-rent and exempts 
one from the payment of taxes, and maybe, 
when he dies he will sleep just as peacefully in 
the potter’s field as will the Millionaire in his 
mausoleum. But who would be a tramp, for 
all that! 

We must live, not in a fairy land of visions 
and dreams, but in a real world of hard, stub¬ 
born fact. And facts are facts, in spite of all 
our conjuring with them. Don Quixote may 
imagine that a wind-mill is a panoplied giant if 
he will, but his imagination cannot change the 
nature and character of the thing; it is a wind¬ 
mill after all. This world is no place for day- 
dreamers. Life will have its romantic features, 
but after all, life is not a romance by any 
means: it is not comedy, but a great, terrible 
tragedy. 


50 


Mux Wanted. 


Bread-winning is a tragedy, and every in¬ 
dustry is fraught with hardship, with sacrifice, 
and often with peril. Think of the thousands 
of men and boys who live under ground in our 
ccal mines at the risk of suffocation by the 
foul gasses or instant death by the explosion 
of the deadly firedamp. There are thousands 
of men who, in order to support their families 
are compelled to become the unwilling slaves of 
the soulless corporations, to meet whose de¬ 
mands they are compelled to surrender their 
Sabbath rest, and whose labor hours are so 
continuous that they scarcely have time to get 
acquainted with their own families. 

Is it any wonder that these over worked and 
poorly paid toilers, when they see the extrava¬ 
gance (f the “ society folks ” and the luxury 
in which they live, should feel that the world 
has not dealt kindly with them! In this ever¬ 
lasting conflict every man must bear his part, 
and that part consists not alone in earning his 
own living, but in joining forces with those who 
edeavor to improve the condition under which 
these submerged ones are at present .compelled 
to live. Those pregnant words of the ‘ 4 great 
emancipator” “This nation cannot live half 
free and half slave territory” has a new mean¬ 
ing in the industrial and commercial life of the 
naticn today. 

The time is not far distant when in the life 
of this nation there must come, and there will 
come some radical and far reaching changes in 


Ideals High and Low. 


51 


our social and industrial life as a people. It 
may come as a social reformation brought 
about by the work of unselfish, intelligent and 
humane citizens if the people will give sufficient 
heed to the voice of warning, but otherwise it 
will come by revolution. It will come, sooner 
or later, just as sure as the judgment day of 
God will come. 

The Call for Pioneers. 

The young man who would make a successful 
effort in any department of business affairs 
must be a pioneer in the van of civilization blaz¬ 
ing the way for others to follow. He is to do 
things that were never done before. He must 
take the iniative in new enterprises. He must 
olare to undertake things that his father never 
dreamed of as within the limit of possibility; 
and for the accomplishment of his work he 
must depend absolutely upon God and himself. 
It will net do to depend on good fortune, for 
there is no such thing as “luck”, either good 
or bad. God and luck cannot both exist in the 
same universe. So long as God lives and rules 
nothing happens by chance. If you could de¬ 
throne God then there is no guessing what 
might or might not happen, but so long as he is 
on the throne his law will prevail, and his law 
is the guarantee and defense of the man who 

obeys it. 

«/ 


52 


M ex Wanted. 


The attempt is being made in some quarters 
to mullify the Decalogue—Some of our law 
makers think they can legalize, the violation 
of God’s commandments; but God is not dead; 
he has not repealed a single law he ever enun¬ 
ciated ; and the sooner our politicians and 
law-makers learn that we cannot get along 
without God the better for us and for those 
who will come after us; and in the promotion 
of the sentiment that shall correct these false 
ideas and establish correct and proper social, 
moral and political principles we must depend 
upon the young manhood of the nation. 

Do not depend on the sympathetic assistance 
of your friends. However much you may ap¬ 
preciate the sympathy of your friends, learn 
to live without it. If you may have the added 
strength and support of sympathetic assistance 
in your efforts, well and good; but remember 
that except in rare cases, this world bestows 
its favors where they are the least needed. The 
stories of David and Jonathan, or of Damon 
and Pythias, are inspiring reading and must 
excite us to noble deeds, but the men who sur¬ 
render a kingdom to another or hasten to lay 
down their lives as a forfeit for the life of their 
friends are few. “Laugh and the world will 
laugh with you,” but it is too true that: 

“The friends who in our sunshine live, 

When winter comes have flown.” 


Ideals High and Low. 


53 


It is true that “'God helps the man who helps 
himself,” and so does everybody else help him. 
So long as you can take care of yourself you 
will have plenty of friends who will “ stand by 
you,” but remember it was the same crowd that 
hailed Jesus as king on Palm Sunday who de¬ 
serted and left him in the hands of his enemies 
to be crucified just when he most needed their 
sympathy. Trust only in God and in your own 
right arm. In the great battle of life “coward¬ 
ice is infamy, ’ ’ but God never deserts the brave, 
and God and one man constitute a majority, 
always. 

Optimism vs. Pessimism. 

While you are to cultivate the spirit of in¬ 
dependence and self sufficiency, do not let the 
coldheartedness you see in the world around 
you sour the “milk of human kindness” in your 
own breast. Do not yield to the spirit of pessi¬ 
mism. Don’t get stoical and selfish. Keep sweet. 
Cultivate benevolence and charity toward all 
men, and grow bigger as you grow older, Re¬ 
member the call of the times is for men. More 
and more the world needs them, and from out 
the dome of the sky today God is calling the 
young men to higher purposes and nobler am¬ 
bitions than the mere gratification to be found 
in self indulgence. 

Jesus of Nazareth came at a time when 
selfish greed and pride characterized the race, 
and he gave not his time or talent only, but he 


54 


Men Wanted. 


gave himself; gave his life to teach us the great 
truth of the (brotherhood of man and the father¬ 
hood of God. He has shown us what it is to 
be a man at his best. He was the perf ect man. 
While there is a realm into which we may not 
follow him, i. e. We may not still the raging 
sea or heal the leper; yet there is a realm in 
which we can do these very things: we can hush 
the storm of passion; we can lift up the fallen; 
we can help to cleanse the moral lepers; we 
can multiply the loaves and fishes to feed the 
hungry poor, and he has said that in that day 
when we shall stand before the, bar of eternal 
justice for judgment, he will say to those who 
have followed his example in doing these 
things; “Inasmuch as ye have done these things 
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me.” 

The noblest aim and purpose of any man is 
usefulness, and not merely the winning of the 
applause of the multitude. He is the true man 
who can do his duty, and do it fearlessly and 
cheerfully, and let the crowd go with him or 
against him just as the crowd may please. 

A virile, manly man will have convictions, 
and when lie has measured and tested them by 
his highest conceptions of what is right and 
proper he will follow them, no matter where 
they may lead him. 

In your effort to help the world do not be 
stilted or self-centered, but move with the mul¬ 
titude. No matter what your social, fraternal 


Ideals High and Low. 


55 


or religions relations may be, you must be 
broader and larger in your sympathetic assis¬ 
tance you render to the world than any of these. 

When we consider the fact that there is so 
much of social injustice; so much of industrial 
unrest; so much of discontent with existing 
conditions; so much of strife and so much of . 
suffering produced by causes that might easily 
be abated if men would only do unto others as 
they would have others do to them: there are 
times when I feel that I want to forget, for the 
time being, all the relations that I sustain to 
secret fraternities, helpful as they may be: 
forget that I belong to any religicus denomina¬ 
tion; much as I love my church, and just get 
out and mingle with the great surging mass 
of discontented, suffering humanity, and lay 
my arms around the unfortunate; and put my 
heart up against their troubled hearts, and with 
a brother’s hand gripping theirs, say to them, 
and say it so that they shall feel the sincerity 
with which I speak; My brother, look up, be of 
good courage, there is a brighter and better 
day coming for you tomorrow. 

“Learn more reverence, not for rank or wealth: that 
needs no learning; 

That comes quickly, quick as sin does! Aye, and often 
leads to sin: 

But for Adam’s seed, man, trust me, ’tis a clay above 
your scorning, 

With God’s image stamped upon it, and God’s kindling 
breath within.’’ 



Self-Mastery. 


“He that is slew to anger is better than the 
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he 
that taketh a city.” Solomon. 

“The fortunate circumstances of our lives 
are generally found at last to be of our own 
making. 7 7 Goldsmith. 

“I have overcome my worst enemy, my own 
heart. 77 Emperor Valentinian. 

“The heroic effort of a solitary soul to con¬ 
quer self is grander than any strife involving 
a martial host. 77 George P. Eckman. 

“Give a man a consciousness of what he is 
and he will soon be what he ought to bed 7 

Schilling. 


Man is a spiritual being, and his highest am¬ 
bition is to develop the attributes of his nature 
that relate him to his Creator, and that differ¬ 
entiate him from the brute creation and from 
the material nature that surrounds him. 

Clement of Alexandria drew a very dark pic¬ 
ture of man as he was before the influences of 
Christianity reached him when he said: “They 
were the wildest of beasts, for they showed the 




inconstancy of the bird, the treachery of the 
reptile, the rapacity of the wolf, the wrath of 
the lion, the greed of the swine, and the in¬ 
sensibility of stones and clods.” Saint Paul 
says: “They were strangers to the covenants 
of promise, having no hope, and without God 
in the world.” 

We who live in this Twentieth Century are 
more favored than the ancients but the danger 
with us is that, failing to realize the necessity 
of being born from above men will rest satis¬ 
fied while they conform to the spirit of our 
modern civilization which, while it is nominally 
Christian is only negatively so; it is not the 
Christianity of Christ. Its political, commercial 
and social standards of spiritual life and of 
moral character are very far below the stan¬ 
dard set by Jesus of Nazareth, and the only 
way of escape from its deceptive and blighting 
influence is through a personal communion with 
God through the ministry of the Holy Ghost. 
In order to this self-mastery is the first quali¬ 
fication : abandonment of self and selfish grati¬ 
fication and a complete and unconditional turn¬ 
ing to God for divine cleansing from all that is 
offensive to Him, and for divine guidance in all 
the affairs of life. Only by this can a man be 
sure that he. is in the line of development that 
is leading up to the highest type of moral and 
religious character. 

'In attempting this mastery of self one should 
thoroughly understand his own physical, men- 


Self-Mastery. 


59 


tal, and moral nature, and thus knowing him¬ 
self, understanding his strong points and his 
weak points, he should set the “double guard” 
where he is most vulnerable, and marshall all 
his forces of offense at that point. 

In order to do this one must be severely 
honest and just with himself. The danger is, 
with most of us, that we are disposed to be too 
lenient in this respect. Self examination is not 
the most delightful work if we are really honest 
and deal with self as we would deal with other 
people. It requires a great deal of charity to 
excuse in another what we will allow and seek 
to justify in ourselves. But there is nothing to 
be gained but everything to lose if we really 
desire to develop the best there is in us, by 
excusing any lack or fault of our own. 

Self deception is both easy and dangerous. 
It is so easy for us to do what we feel inclined 
to do, and it is not difficult for us to approve 
our own conduct, though we may be conscious 
that it might have been better. But however 
blind we may be to our own faults others will 
see them, and our friends will likely be slow 
to call cur attention to them while our enemies 
will not fail to magnify them to our disadvant¬ 
age. 

One of the best things a young man could do 
for himself would be to constitute some one 
among his acquaintances who is thoroughly 
capable for such an office and who would be 
severely just with him, his critic to observe his 


60 


Men Wanted. 


conduct and to call liis attention to anything 
and everything in his conduct and conversation 
that ought to be corrected, and if he will profit 
by this as he may it will do much toward help¬ 
ing him in the formation of correct habits. 
None of us see ourselves just as we appear to 
other people. We all might consistently say 
with Burns: 

“O wad some power the giftie gi’e us, 

To see oursel’s as ithers see us." 


Self delusion is dangerous because we are 
liable to follow our own inclinations even to 
the extent of sometimes approving what is 
wrong and thus become confirmed in incorrect 
habits, for with every indulgence in any form 
of wrong-doing our ability to detect the im¬ 
propriety of our conduct is diminsihed: 

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 

As to be hated, needs but to be seen; 

But seen too oft; familiar with her face; 

We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 

So it is that the course of an evil life is a 
progressive downward course: first an evil 
thought entertained in the mind, then an evil or 
wicked course of action is decided upon, and 
then an immoral or wicked act is performed 
and the whole trend of a man’s life is changed. 

. The fact of moral guilt begins at the point 
where the mind consents to the suggestion of 
wrong doing and awaits the opportunity for 


Self-Mastery. 


61 


the execution of the course decided upon. No 
doubt there are many persons who escape the 
guilt of unlawful and even criminal conduct 
because circumstances do not afford the oppor¬ 
tunity for the intended action, but even so his 
mcral nature is thereby degraded, for 4 4 as a 
man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” 

Remember that no amount of regret can 
atone for a single act of dishonesty, or false¬ 
hood, or injustice of any sort, and the only way 
to be sure that our conduct is right in the sight 
of God and man is to keep the mind and heart 
pure and clean. Judas may feel the sting of 
remorse that drives him to suicide for his trea¬ 
son, but the Christ is crucified and the traitor 
dies self condemned. 

Duty the Supreme Test of Character. 

At the battle of Chattanooga Gen. George 
H. Thomas with the troops under his command 
occupied what was regarded as the key to the 
main position of the Union Armies, and Gen. 
Grant who was commander-in-chief of the 
Union forces, sent to Gen. Thomas a despatch 
saying, “Chattanooga must be held at all 
hazards,” and General Thomas replied: “Tell 
General Grant we will hold the town until we 
starve,” notwithstanding the fact that starva¬ 
tion was then staring him and his men in the 
face. With General Thomas duty was supreme. 
There was no alternative. When duty is clear 


62 


Men Wanted. 


and we undertake to discharge it in the fear of 
God and in the cause of righteousness, it is 
not our business to stop to consider consequen¬ 
ces. The duty is ours, and the consequences 
belong to God. To falter, to hesitate or to quit 
is to confess that either we were wrong in 
beginning or else, God helping us, we were not 
able to bring to a successful termination what 
we have undertaken. 

Every young man occupies a strategic posi¬ 
tion, for the days cf his youth hold the key to 
all his later life. No man sows wild oats in 
the days of his youth but he reaps a harvest of 
wild oats in his later years. There may be a 
momentary exhilaration in quaffing from the 
wine-cup but ‘ ‘ at the last it biteth like a serpent 
and stingeth like an adder. ” The alternative 
of a happy or miserable old age is presented 
to every young man. Youth is the seeding time 
and the sowing determines what the harvest 
shall be that shall come in the future; “What¬ 
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” 
Seneca never uttered a more profound truth 
than when he said, “sad indeed is the life of 
that man whcse youth stands in need of an 
apology.” 

The spirit of this age is frivolous and lacking 
in the matter of sober thoughtfulness that 
characterized our forefathers. It is toward 
entertainment and amusement rather than to¬ 
ward the more sericus concerns of life. Even 
our colleges and universities emphasize the 


Self-Mastery. 


63 


athletic sports sometimes to the disadvantage 
of the literary and scientific studies included in 
the curriculum. When the average young man 
takes up the,daily newspaper he almost inveri- 
ably opens it at the sporting page and very 
frequently reads little or nothing else in the 
paper. The game, the theatre and the club 
absorb his thought and the matter of business 
responsibility he brushes aside with 4 i serious 
things tomorrow.” 

It is said of Rome that 4 ‘the, zenith of her 
political glory marked the nadir of her virtue, ’ ’ 
and the secret of it all was that Rome gave 
herself up to voluptuous ease and neglected 
the more important things that pertained to 
right living. What was true of Rome will be 
true of the young man who neglects the sober 
duties and responsibilities of life, seeking only 
to amuse himself with popular pastimes. 

A certain amount of diversion and relaxa¬ 
tion is not only proper and right but is actually 
essential. The constant and increasing de¬ 
mand of our commercial and industrial life as 
a people render it absolutely essential that we 
shall have our holiday for recuperation, but 
too much of the things provided for this pur¬ 
pose, because of the excesses to which they lead, 
is harmful instead of being helpful. 

We must recognize the fact that we are here 
for a purpose. Something depends on us. God 
expects something of us. Our friends and the 
community in which we live have a right to 


64 


Men Wanted. 


expect that we will contribute our share toward 
promoting the common weal. No man is justi¬ 
fied in being merely a negative character; in 
merely doing nothing that is harmful to him¬ 
self or to his neighbors—a mere drone in the 
hive. His only justification lies in doing the 
best he can for himself and for the community 
in which he lives, and he can only do this When 
he is at his best. There is nothing that a young 
man ought to be that he cannot be if he will. 
There is nothing that he ought to do that he 
cannot do if he honestly tries, nor is there any¬ 
thing that is really necessary to his happiness 
or usefulness he cannot have if he will pay 
the price of service for it. 

But he who would win in the competitive race 
of life must gird him for the contest, step into 
the arena and contend for the prize “The pres¬ 
sure of commercial and social life is so insis¬ 
tent that it requires a veritable battle in our 
hearts to prevent the surrender of our integ¬ 
rity and social ideals. We must either master 
or be mastered by current civilization . 9 ’ Life 
is a tragedy and not a ccmedy. It is a war-fare 
and not a dress-parade. The struggle for ex¬ 
istence is always on and it is always acute. 
Every good thing we possess of whatever sort 
it is, is but crystalized sweat-drops from some¬ 
body’s brow, and every virtue that men develop 
must be gained in spite of the influences that 
would develop the opposite vice. Every be¬ 
nevolent impulse must be fostered and every 


Self-Masteky. 


65 


charitable act must he performed in opposition 
to the spirit of selfishness that is all too com¬ 
mon with the best of us. 

There is so much of selfishness in the world, 
and we must so frequently come in contact with 
it, unless we are very charitable in our judg¬ 
ment of other people, the effect of that contact 
will be to make us selfish instead of benevolent, 
and disposing us to meet the selfish, commercial 
spirit of the times with the same spirit until 
we will come to estimate everything and every 
man, too, by the dollar mark. Against all this 
tendency we must strive if we would master 
self and rise to the, standard of true manhood 
and realize in ourselves our own ideal of what 
we believe every man ought to be. 

No virile, red-blooded man will be content 
to be less than the best that is possible for him. 
The man who has ten talents and uses only 
two of them has been likened to a carpenter 
who has a chest of forty tools but who uses only 
two of them—his saw and hatchet, and never 
becomes anything but a saw-and-hatchet car¬ 
penter. There are not a few young men today 
who seem to have no conception of their re¬ 
sponsibility for their own improvement in 
knowledge and in earning capacity. They are 
content to live a life of mere sensual gratifica¬ 
tion; and they will not unfrequently sneer at 
the young man who applies himself to business 
pursuits rather than to sports and pastimes. 
But when you hear the corner loungers ridicul- 


66 


Men Wanted. 


ing a young man because he is not one of their 
class; does not belong to their club, you .may 
know he is a good fellow to have for your friend. 

Every habit of man indicates his class. The 
tree is known by its fruits. The fact that an 
animal wears a hcbble may not be positive 
proof that the animal is mischievous, but it is 
most conclusive evidence that its owner is sus¬ 
picious of it. So to see a young man loitering 
around places of questionable moral influence 
where the idle and profligate spend their time; 
to hear him using language that savors of in¬ 
decency, to see him indulging in practices that 
ill become a gentleman, marks him as one who 
is not fit to be the companion of a young man 
who respects himself and who has a pious re¬ 
gard for the good opinion of self-respecting 
people. 

If you will saturate a white cotton cloth with 
phenol-plithalein and place it beside another 
cloth saturated with aqua amouia and then just 
blow your breath across the amonia cloth so 
that your breath will carry the amonia fumes 
to the cloth containing the phenol-plithalein it 
will immediately change the latter to a bright 
red color. Human character is just that sensi¬ 
tive to evil influences. Nothing else on earth 
is so delicate and at the same time so immortal. 
Just a breath of suspicion that finds corrobora¬ 
tive evidence in the life and conduct of a young 
man may require a long time to overcome its 
baleful influence. The results of evil associa- 


Self-Mastery. 


67 


tions or of evil propensities indulged are fixed 
and certain, and sooner or later will bear their 
fruits in a human life. 

The tendency of an evil life is always to 
lower forms of vice. A young man will first 
discriminate between certain forms of estab¬ 
lished moral laws and social requirements, re¬ 
strained, perhaps, by his early training. He 
will observe some of these and ignore others 
that to him may seem of minor importance. 
He will not deliberately steal what is not his 
own, but he will justify what is morally dis¬ 
honest in business, excusing himself on the 
ground that other people do the same thing, 
and the danger is that he will thus render ob¬ 
tuse his moral sensibilities and pursue the 
downward course until arrested in his evil way 
by the civil law or the wreck of his physical 
as well as his moral nature, or, perhaps, both. 

As I write this chapter a wave of unpreced¬ 
ented moral and financial crookedness is 
sweeping over our country, and the wreckage 
is being strewn everwhere: accounts of fiduc¬ 
iary infidelity, systematic swindling, double 
dealing, burglary, highway robbery and wicked¬ 
ness of every description fill the daily papers. 
A crash of moral and business integrity shakes 
the confidence of the public in men and in finan¬ 
cial and commercial institutions, and the sad 
fact of it all is that in most cases the trans¬ 
gressors are men below the middle age of life. 
A single case of recent occurrence will illus- 


68 


Men Wanted. 


trate the truth of this statement: a young man, 
the son of a widowed mother was employed 
in a large banking institution, and was in line 
for promotion to a high and honorable position; 
and because of the high esteem in which he was 
held by the bank authorities he was placed in 
charge of a large trust fund, and had he honor¬ 
ed the trust reposed in him a noble career as 
well as financial prosperity was before him. 

But he was not careful of the associations he 
formed, and that neglect led ultimately to his 
undoing. He heard much about the possibili¬ 
ties of gaining money by stock gambling and 
finally decided to use some of the money in the 
trust fund he held in speculation. He began 
moderately, increased his risks gradually, and 
finally became a “plunger” in a frantic effort 
to recoup his losses; but finally, after six years 
of stock gambling in which he had wrecked the 
trust fund he sought to hide his sin and dis¬ 
grace by running away and hiding himself, but 
was caught, and when arrested he said: “Pm 
glad they have caught me. I was in fear all 
the time. I always thought the police were on 
my trail. Do you ask why did I do it? It is 
the old, old story. The brokers showed me the 
pretty picture, the beautiful scenery, and the 
bright outlook. I got in too deep, tried to come 
back and got beyond my depth. I am willing 
to pay the penalty for my wrong doing, but my 
family, the innocent by-standers as always will 
suffer. ” 


Self-Mastery. 


69 


And what must be the bitter remorse of the 
man who, reflecting’ on what he might have been, 
realizes the depth of the disgrace to which his 
conduct has brought him and the depth of the 
disappointment and grief to which he has drag¬ 
ged down with himself those who aforetime 
loved and honored him. Friends may pity him, 
a merciful God may forgive his sin, but can he 
ever forgive himself! 

Henry Drummond insists that only one half 
of what we are is the result of developing the 
personal ego, the other half, he says, is the 
result of contact with our environment. But if 
this be true the dangerous half is within us. 
What probability is there that a life that has 
been given up to the spirit of worldiness, to 
carnal indulgence and dissipation will be re¬ 
sponsive to the ameliorating and ennobling in¬ 
fluences that are altogether foreign to such a 
life! “If we close our eyes and stop our ears 
to the truth and fill our hearts with vanities 
and lies, we cannot wonder that the holiest 
revelations fall upon us like rain upon the wil¬ 
derness, or pass unrecognized in the stupor of 
our sleep or in the absorption of our worldi- 
ness.” 

No matter what our enviroment may be un¬ 
less there be in us a disposition to yield to its 
influence it can never harm us. Our enviroment 
will offer the opportunity for the exercise of 
whatever effort we may put forth, whether that 
effort be in a direction to profit us or otherwise. 


70 


Men Wanted. 


A man may be so under the influence of some 
evil habit, some habit that is fostered by our 
environment, too, that he will be unable to fol¬ 
low his convictions of right and of duty. Alexan¬ 
der, the Macedonian Conqueror won the title of 
“The Great” by his display of the exceptional 
ability he possessed as a military commander 
but never did master the evil propensities of 
his own carnal nature; and died at last, history 
tells us, in a drunken debauch. 

The husbandman knows that it is useless to 
undertake to plant a crop of any sort until first 
the ground has been carefully prepared to re¬ 
ceive the seed. The stones have got to be 
gathered and the thorns and bramble must be 
uprooted and burned up and the ground put in 
a receptive condition. And it is even so with 
all that is worth while in a human life. All that 
is incompatible with noble and honorable man¬ 
hood must be uprooded and thrown out, and the 
heart soil must be put in a receptive condition 
for the planting of the gocd seed. It is useless 
to undertake the development until first there 
is a determination to abandon every vicious 
and immoral habit, for so long as evil is toler¬ 
ated in the heart it will overrun the good seeds 
that may be sown there. You canT grow tares 
and good wheat in the same soil at the same 
time. A human life cannot remain for any con¬ 
siderable time one half good and the other half 
bad, for either the good or the bad will pre¬ 
dominate to the exclusion of the other. 


Self-Mastery. 


71 


Self mastery is the key to world mastery. 
The man who has mastered self easily masters 
all opposition, for opposition only strengthens 
his subjective moral force and increases his 
determination to win. Personal integrity, stal¬ 
wart manliness becomes the stronger for hav¬ 
ing withstood a hostile attack. Put St. Paul in 
prison, or bring him into the market-place and 
publicly whip him, or let his enemies stone him 
and cast him out for dead, but with his soul 
fired with a great and righteous purpose he 
will survive it all and defy liis tormentors with 
the declaration “none of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so 
that I might finish my course with joy, and the 
ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” 
Neither threat nor sneering taunt of an enemy 
can drive a true man from a position that he 
knows is right, for he knows that a taunt is 
worth exactly what it is felt to be worth by the 
man at whom it is aimed and no more. It is to 
him only as the barking of a cur or the braying 
of an ass and deserves only silent contempt. 

Moral uprightness, stalwart moral integrity 
is the sine qui non to recognition and respect 
from all honorable and high minded people, 
and is also absolutely essential if we would 
maintain our own self respect, for no man can 
be gulty of a mean act and think quite as much 
of himself afterward as he did before he com¬ 
mitted it. 


72 


Men Wanted. 


Tlie effect of our moral status on our social 
influence is entirely different from its influence 
on those with whom we come in contact in the 
every day business affairs of life. You may 
take passage on an ocean steamship whose 
captain may be profane and immoral, and while 
he may break every command of God and dis¬ 
regard every standard of gentlemanly conduct, 
this may neither prevent him from navigating 
his ship properly nor hinder you from enjoying 
all the pleasures of the trip. In the moral and 
religious world this is not so; but if one lacks 
moral character and a reputation for chastity 
and moral integrity, it will be with him as with 
the man of uncertain moral character who un¬ 
dertook to lecture Emerson on the subject of 
his religious duty, to whom Emerson replied: 
“what I know you to be speaks so loudly that 
I cannot hear a word you are saying.” 

In the great arena of business life we must 
meet opposition that will be presistent, 
stubborn, and sometimes unfair and even un¬ 
scrupulous, but whatever may come we should 
be men; never faltering, never hiding or run¬ 
ning away, but fighting in the open, and fighting 
to a finish. We must not get cynical or revenge¬ 
ful or sullen, but always keep sweet and look 
toward the future with a bright face and a 
strong arm, and, standing squarely up to the 
line of duty and trusting God one must do his 
best, and if he does the world will honor him 
and God will honor him also with his blessing 


Self-Mastery. 


73 


on his effort. “It costs much to he true to 
one’s convictions sometimes, but it is vastly 
more expensive to be false to what the soul 
declares is duty. It is no pleasant thing to 
face a frowning world or to bear the averted 
glances of friends who think one’s course is 
foolish; but it is far more agreeable to undergo 
such experiences than to sit alone in the quiet 
hours and hate one’s self for that excessive 
caution by which the prize of courage was 
thrown aside.” 

Self-mastery has been the prominent trait in 
the character of the men who have risen to 
prominence and recognized leadership in all 
our national history, and indeed in all the world. 
Only the man who has mastered self could say 
as did Washington when he set out for New 
York to be inaugurated President of the United 
States when he was first elected to that office: 
“Be the voyage long or short; although I may 
be deserted by all men, integrity and firmness 
shall never forsake me.” 

Much has been said about the jokes and wit¬ 
ticisms of President Lincoln, and even some of 
his cabinet ministers characterized them as un¬ 
becoming a man in the honorable position that 
Mr. Lincoln occupied; but Mr. Lincoln himself 
declared that if he did not thus relieve himself 
of the tremendous strain of the responsibility 
he must bear in the direction of the affairs 
pertaining to his office, he would die under the 
burden; and so we find that this was simply his 


74 


Men Wanted. 


way mastering and reinforcing liimself for the 
task he had to preform. 

Among the great captains of industries we 
find a conspicuous example of self-mastery in 
the life of Edward H. Harriman, who started 
in life a poor 'boy but who by careful investiga¬ 
tion, wise selection, close application and per¬ 
sistent effort in business rose from one degree 
of wealth and influence to another until he came 
into the control of 20.000 miles of rail road, and 
was known as “the Western Railroad ’Czar.” 
A study of his life and conduct reveals the fact 
that the secret of his phenominal success was 
self-mastery. He yielded to no inordinate self 
indulgence. He was indifferent to the applause 
or frowns of men. He had absolute control of 
his temper and never lost his head, but on the 
contrary it is said of him that he had so mas¬ 
tered his temper and all the emotions of his 
soul that he could remain perfectly cool and 
unperturbed when bitterly assailed, and when 
other men would shake with anger and lose 
themselves lie was perfectly self possessed. The 
man who under provocation yields to an unruly 
temper drives a steed that runs away with him, 
while the man who, like Harriman, never loses 
his head avoids the ditch into which the pas¬ 
sionate man is likely to land. 

A sort of by-product or accompanying grace 
of self mastery is the spirit of benevolence. 
A spirit that can look with compassion on the 
weaknesses of other people whose lives lack 


Self-Masteky. 


75 


the merits of self control. He who would be of 
the greatest help to the world, and at the same 
time enjoy the best the world has to give him 
must cultivate the spirit of generosity, and not 
look on others with an evil eye of suspicion. 
The man who goes around hunting for evil in 
the lives of others; looking for something with 
which he can find fault, will find there are 
others no better than himself, but what comfort 
is there in that discovery! Remember there is 
room in the world for you and for every other 
man, too. No man is either so good or so great 
that he is indispensable to the orderly progress 
of human affairs, and no man need drag down 
some one else to make a stepping-stone for his 
own promotion. 

That success which brings wealth or honor 
with moral and religious character ought to be 
the goal of every young man’s ambition; but 
that life is worse than wasted that is spent in 
gaining wealth or honors without regard to the 
means by which it is attained. No amount of 
success in gaining wealth or the honors that 
men covet can compensate for the consciousness 
at the last that a man has gained either or both 
of these at the cost of having sacrificed that 
which distinguishes him as a highminded and 
honorable gentleman. 

Coming through the Grand River Canyon 
which is one of the most picturesque and cap¬ 
tivating spots in all the Rocky Mountains, look¬ 
ing out of the car window I saw where a man 


76 


Men Wanted. 


had climbed far up the rugged face of the rock 
and there had placed his name where tourists 
could read it as they passed. But who knows 
who Aaron Salsbury is, or what he ever did 
beside cutting his name in the face of the rock? 
Who cares? Better do something worthy of 
being remembered; something that has helped 
some one who needed the stimulus of a kindly 
act; and then when the ages have passed and 
the rocks have crumbled to dust, eternity itself 
will bear the record of your effort. Ever bear 
in mind the fact that when we are gone from 
this life we shall be remembered here and re¬ 
warded hereafter, not for what the minister 
mav sav at our funeral, or for what the tender 
regard of loved ones may inscribe on our monu¬ 
ment, but for what we have done . 

Long ago Solomon, perhaps the most noted 
of all men for his wisdom made a survey of the 
pleasures and possessions that lure us in this 
life and characterized them all as ‘‘vanity and 
vexation of spirit,” and as a final conclusion 
of the whole matter he says “FEAR GOD AND 
KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: for this is 
the whole duty of man.” 

There is just one laudable ambition for a 
young man, and that is to attain to the highest 
standard of noble manhood; a manhood that is 
stalwart in principle; that makes no comprom¬ 
ise with wrong; that is morally upright, pure 
and clean in all social relations; commercially 
honorable, and religiously righteous in the sight 


Self-Mastery. 


77 


of God and man. This is true riches; it is the 
highest honor, and the only safe and sure way 
to happiness here and hereafter. Jesus says 
“seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness and all necessary things shall be 
added unto you. ,, 





Social Relations. 


“None of us liveth unto himself, and no man 
dieth unto himself.” St. Paul. 

“There is a law of unconscious assimilation . 
We become like those with whom we go.” 

S. D. Gordon. 

“Society is a sphere that demands all our 
energies, and deserves all it demands.” 

Colton. 

“Dear ties of mutual succor bind 
The children of our feeble race, 

And if our brethren were not kind, 

This earth were but a weary place.” 

Wm. C. Bryant. 


All nature teaches sociability. Animals con¬ 
gregate in herds, birds and fowls go in coveys 
or flocks, fishes live and move in shoals, insects 
congregate in swarms or colonies, and even in 
the vegetable kingdom isolation means barren¬ 
ness, if not actual blight and death. 

It is only natural, therefore, that man should 
crave intimate and friendly relations with his 
fellows, and that if deprived of this should lose 
out of life the highest source of earthly enjoy- 




80 


Men Wanted. 


ment. It is in recognition of this fact that the 
State inflicts as a punishment for crime that is 
regarded as next in severity to the death pen¬ 
alty, solitary confinement in our penal institu¬ 
tions. But is it less severe? Is this not a liv¬ 
ing death? Can we wonder that men thus iso¬ 
lated, who never see a human face save that of 
the prison keeper, pine and sicken and die? 

And there are some cutside of prison walls 
who are scarcely less penalized by society. One 
time they sinned and society has never for¬ 
given them, though perhaps had some of those 
who scornfully treat them been tempted as 
these unfortunates were, they would have done 
no better; and it may not be going too far to 
say that some of those “holier-than-thou” peo¬ 
ple may have cause to congratulate themselves 
that the condemnation and guilt of sinning 
seems to consist very largely in being found out. 

The apostle Paul gives this admonition: 
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, 
ye who are spiritual restore such an one in the 
spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest 
thou also be tempted.” “Considering thyself.” 
Remember, you are only mortal. Scipio might 
resent the caution of his servant when he said, 
“Remember, thou art but a man,” but the ser¬ 
vant expressed a great truth that we all need 
to keep in mind. There are some who are so 
indifferent to the misfortunes of others that 
they can find occasion to laugh at their pre¬ 
dicament. What a difference it makes whether 


Social Relations. 


81 


one laughs with us or laughs at us! When 
others laugh with us it serves as a tonic to our 
spirits and fills us with sunshine and joy, but, 
oh, how withering is the laugh of scorn aimed 
at us! A scornful laugh is a great gulf between 
him who laughs and him who is laughed at as 
wide as that between Dives and Lazarus. 

A woman came to town one day whose gar¬ 
ments plainly showed that she was poor. The 
hat she wore was unlike anything the milliners 
turned out from their shops. It was miscellan¬ 
eously made up and, like Joseph’s coat, it was 
composed of many colors. Evidently it was 
home-made, and it was made without regard 
to the fashion. But it was hers and she made 
it—it served her purpose and it was not adorn¬ 
ed with*a costly feather that was not paid for. 
Some of the smart folks that saw it laughed at 
it and made sport of it, but the people of good 
sense and good manners did not laugh. They 
said the poor woman had done the best she 
could and the hat was good enough. 

The “down and out” often finds but little 
encouragement in his efforts to regain respect¬ 
ability. A man who had been a great drunkard 
and had twice tried to reform and had failed, 
went to a revival meeting where he professed 
conversion, and as he was leaving the church 
after the service he was met bv an official of the 

church, who said to him, “Well, W_, you 

are trying it again, are you?” To which he re¬ 
plied, “Yes, by the help of the Lord I’m going 



82 


Men Wanted. 


to lead a different life.” “Well,” said, the 
official, “I hope you will, hut I haven’t a bit of 
confidence in you. ” 

But others did have confidence in him and 
they gave him a friendly hand, and he fully 
justified their confidence, became a useful mem¬ 
ber of the church and died a happy Christian. 

The good citizen sustains a two-fold relation 
to society. There is a circle in which he finds 
his personal friends, such as are congenial to 
him socially, and there is a larger circle includ¬ 
ing the whole community in which he lives and 
acts as the good friend of all, helping by all 
means, as far as he can, every one who may 
need assistance, not in a merely perfunctory 
manner but as a friend. John Randolph could 
give shelter and assistance to the man who was 
accidentally hurt near his home, and then when 
the gentleman, happening to pass that way 
again, called to see Mr. Randolph to inquire for 
his health and to thank him again for his pre¬ 
vious kindness, he was dismissed with the curt 
remark, “You need not mention it, sir, but let 
me remind you that hospitality is one thing and 
sociability is quite another. Good morning.” 

A man may be toward his fellows as the 
prison keeper toward the inmates of the insti¬ 
tution over which he presides, doing only what 
his duty enjoins, aside from any charitable dis¬ 
position; but when we remember that “God 
hath made of one blood all nations of men for to 
dwell on all the face of the earth,” our relations 


Social Relations. 


83 


to our fellow man assume a meaning and im¬ 
portance, and impose obligations and duties 
that are second only to those that bind us to 
God, our Creator. 

Society has its ills and it has need of a physi¬ 
cian. Like the Jericho traveller, it is bruised 
and bleeding and waits for the good Samaritan. 
It has its heartaches and looks for some com¬ 
forter. Only a part of these are known to the 
public. It is surprising to find to what ex¬ 
tremes of want, and even of suffering some¬ 
times, a feeling of personal self-respect or 
family pride will induce those who need assis¬ 
tance, silentlv to endure rather than let their 
best friends know their condition. Poverty 
never pinches quite so severely under any other 
conditions as when it comes to those who “have 
seen better days”. 

A selfish disposition prompts us to ask with 
the lawyer, who inquired of Jesus, “Who is 
my neighbor!” Our neighbor is not simply 
the man who lives next door to us, or in the 
same town with us. The bounds of our neigh¬ 
borhood are coextensive with the widest 
horizon of the race, for today we live next door 
to all the world. Steam and electricity have 
annihilated distance, and the spirit of fraternal 
cooperation and Christian charity must keep 
pace with the world progress and enter the 
opening doors of opportunity. 

The Christian manhood of today is recogniz¬ 
ing this obligation, and the response is seen in 


84 


Men Wanted. 


* 

tlie “ Students ’ Missionary Movement ” that is 
gripping* the minds and hearts of the young 
men in all our colleges and universities, and in 
the “Men's Missionary Movement”, which is 
enlisting the Christian business men every¬ 
where, who are consecrating their time and 
money to the splendid work of sending the Gos¬ 
pel to the “nations that sit in darkness”, while 
the Christian church is pushing the enterprise 
of Home and Foreign Missions as she has never 
done before. 

The sphere of a man’s usefulness may be 
enlarged by the possession of wealth, education 
or native talent, but he can be helpful without 
these. A green tree in the midst of a desert 
may bear no fruit, yet who can tell the value 
of its cooling shade, within which the weary 
traveller may find shelter from the burning 
rays of the sun? Such is the relation of the 
good man to the community where he resides. 
His presence is a benediction to all who come 
in touch with his influence. 

One of the most respected and honored men 
the writer has ever known and one of the most 
influential and helpful was one of the poorest, 
financially. It is doubtful if he ever saw the 
day when he could have given ten dollars to any 
person or cause without depriving himself of 
something necessary for his own comfort. He 
was not an educated man, and yet there was no 
other citizen in that community with whom the 
most highly educated preferred to converse. He 


Social Relations. 


85 


was not gifted with the power of language ex¬ 
cept when engaged in prayer, but when he pray¬ 
ed the heavens opened and you realized that, 
like Moses, he was talking face to face with God. 
In his presence all idle and mischievous gossip 
hushed. The scandal monger and filthy joker 
maintained a respectful silence for the time 
being, or at least cleansed their tongues. His 
life was a benedition to all who knew him, and 
when he died the whole community felt bereft. 
No other citizen of that town ever had higher 
honors paid him in his death and burial. In 
his poverty he made many others rich. 

% 

The Ideal Society. 

Would you assist in the uplift of society, 
cultivate in your own life the virtues and graces 
that will give force and meaning to your effort. 
Let your precept and example accord in all 
things. We can only give out to others what 
we are in ourselves, and this we will do, be the 
influence good or bad, helpful or harmful, and 
that whether we are careful to do so or not. 

“In order to have an ideal people we must 
have an ideal community of morals.’’ Idealism 
cannot exist in spots, for the reason that every 
life touches every other life in the community, 
and every community touches every other com¬ 
munity in the commonwealth. The Boulevard 
and Poverty Row overlap each other; there¬ 
fore, the ideal society must include the whole 


86 


Men Wanted. 


community in all its institutions and in its 
interrelationships. 

The tendency toward the segregation of 
classes in the social and religious life is all 
wrong. Character ought to be the only test. 
We hear of churches ivhose membership is com¬ 
posed of “wealthy and influential’’ persons, in 
contrast with other churches whose members 
come from the factory and the mill. Of all 
snobbery, the religious brand is the most de¬ 
spicable. God and humanity have need of rich 
men—we could not manage our great commer¬ 
cial and industrial affairs withe ut them—but 
they are not more necessary than the laborer 
who toils in the rich man’s factory. 

It is not a sin to be rich, provided the riches 
have come as the result of honest and fair deal¬ 
ing, but wealth can form no justifiable reason 
for the withdrawl of the rich into religious con¬ 
gregations by themselves. If the Lord should 
come unexpectedly into some of our wealthy 
churches, as He came one day into the temple 
in Jerusalem, His presence might cause con¬ 
sternation as it did on the former occasion. 
Think of a church costing $500,000.00 with a 
seating capacity of only 500 and with an aver¬ 
age congregation of less than 100, while within 
a radius of two blocks around that church there 
may be found 500 people who have never enter¬ 
ed its doors because they have never been in¬ 
vited, and they were not invited because they 



Social Relations. 87 

were not wanted. They do not belong to the 
4 ‘ 400 ’ \ 

There can be no aristocracy in the church of 

•/ 

the Nazarene, for “Ye are all one in Christ 
Jesus”, and “God is no respecter cf persons”. 
A man’s moral character and not the mere 
accident of his being* rich or poor ought to be 
the standard of his respectability; and it ought 
to be the effort of every good citizen to help 
every other citizen, who is morally worthy, to 
recognition as the peer of the best, and to in¬ 
spire in the minds of those who have not proven 
themselves worthy, the desire to gain this re¬ 
cognition. 

The only attitude a good citizen can assume 
toward any matter involving a moral principle 
is uncompromising righteousness. No manner 
of gain, nor any measure of it, can compensate 
for conscious, personal demerit, be that demerit 
either the guilt of any act prompted by a selfish 
desire for personal gain or moral cowardice 
where manly courage was called for. Neither 
can any earthly loss or failure to accomplish a 
noble and honorable end dim the luster of con¬ 
scious integrity. When all his earthly sub¬ 
stance had been swept away, the Man of Uz 
exultantly and defiantly uttered the challenge, 
“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that 
God may know my integrity.” 

A man may not possess some of the manly 
virtues and yet he may not practice the oppo¬ 
site vices, but this is merely a negative charac- 


88 


Men Wanted. 


ter—only half a man—for all the relations we 
sustain to others call for men with rich, red 
blood in their veins; men with the fire of holy 
ambition in their souls; men with spinal col¬ 
umns, not human mollusks or jelly fish; men 
who have the courage of their convictions; men 
with brains who think for themselves, who can 
never bee me shadows for other people; men 
with moral conscience who place righteousness 
of life and conduct above every other considera¬ 
tion. These are the men for whom every inter¬ 
est of society is calling; the men for whom God 
and humanity are waiting, waiting as the sick 
man waits for the physician. 

Social Unrest. 

“I wish I were dead, for then, I reckon, I 
would have peace of mind.” Such was the ex¬ 
pression of a man who was supposed by his 
friends and neighbors to find as much enjoy¬ 
ment in life as most men do, but within whose 
breast there was raging a storm of passionate 
discontent. And yet until that morning he had 
succeeded in keeping shut up within his own 
heart the truth as it related to his mental con¬ 
dition. What a contradiction of appearance 
and fact! 

But the saddest part of the matter is to know 
that this was not a very unusual case, but was, 
in fact, only an illustration of what multitudes 
of others are saying within themselves, as is 


Social Relations. 


89 


shown by the almost innumerable cases of 
suicide recorded in the daily press: not alone of 
those whose physical and temporal condition 
would indicate that they lacked the means of 
making themselves comfortable and happy, but 
including all classes and conditions of mankind, 
the rich as well as the poor, the healthy as well 
as the sick and invalid classes. And this is 
proof that earthly happiness, peace of mind, 
is not alone dependent on temporal conditions 
or any other merely human accident, but must 
be found chiefly, if not entirely, apart from 
these. 

In the last analysis of human nature this 
mental tranquillity, the enjoyment of life which 
results from the happy adjustment of our social 
and economic relations, is the supreme desire 
of all men, and no matter what the trend of the 
life mav seem to be, or in whatever direction 
the ambition may seem to run, happiness is the 
ultimate object. The student imagines that to 
excel in knowledge, to be recognized as a master 
in the realm of literature, art or science, to 
realize what Joseph Cook declared on the day 
of his graduation from college was his am¬ 
bition, “to be a teacher of teachers”, would 
produce it. 

Another imagines that the possession of 
wealth that will afford the means of gratifying 
his desires will bring happiness, while to an¬ 
other to succeed in winning political honors or 
militarv renown seems the shortest and surest 


90 


Men Wanted. 


way to gain it. But happiness is net to be 
gained by amassing wealth or climbing the 
dizzy heights of earthly fame. Unfortunately, 
for most of us, the tendency of human nature is 
to idealize the things we do not possess, the 
conditic ns of life to which we have not attained 
and perhaps never will attain, while the secret 
of true happiness and of usefulness as well is 
in accepting conditions as we must have them 
and in spite of their being adverse, to work 
honestly and industriously toward our own 
ideal. If one cannot gain some desired good*, 
he can be happy without it. If financial condi¬ 
tions will not justify the purchase of a lim¬ 
ousine, he can use the street car and be just 
as happy, or walk, if need be, rather than incur 
a debt that may become embarrassing. 

As it relates to the moral sense and to our 
social relations, happiness, mental tranquillity, 
consists in the moral consciousness of the in¬ 
dividual, who, comparing his conduct and the 
motive from which he has acted with his highest 
conception of what is right, knows he has done 
right. One had better be right and, if it must 
be so, be unpopular, than be popular at the 
cost of a guilty conscience, for nothing is so 
uncertain as popular favor that is won through 
deception or dishonesty, for when the mask of 
the deceiver is torn away, as it will be sooner 
or later, the withering, blighting scorn and con¬ 
tempt of an indignant community will make 
him feel the self condemnation of Cain when 


Social Relations. 91 

lie said, “my punishment is greater than I can 
bear”. 


Nature Teaches Peace. 

Peacefulness, tranquility, is the normal con¬ 
dition of all Nature, not stagnation but har¬ 
monious and helpful activity as we see it dis¬ 
played in Nature around us, so quietly and yet 
so mighty. The mountain stream goes singing 
along its way, irrigating the valleys, slaking 
the thirst of beasts and birds, turning the 
wheels of factories and then swelling the tides 
of the river that goes sweeping smoothly along, 
carrying the commerce of the nation on its 
bosom. Evidently, it was this thought of peace¬ 
ful and quiet activity manifested in Nature that 
impressed William Cullen Bryant when he 
wrote: 


“And yon clear spring, that, midst its herbs, wells 
softly forth and wandering steeps the roots of half 
the mighty forest, tells no tale of all the good it 
does.” 

The atmosphere we breathe; the one thing 
the Great Creator made and spread over all 
the earth of which the author of Genesis in his 
account of Creation makes no direct mention, 
but whose presence is the one indispensable 
condition of all animal and vegetable life, ren¬ 
dering the earth capable of producing and sup¬ 
porting life; this greatest of all natural forces 
in its normal state is not boisterous but tran- 


92 


Men Wanted. 


quil, and it is only when it is disturbed or 
agitated by some unusual condition that we see 
the wonderful display of its power in the 
cyclone that cuts down the forest or shakes a 
city into a heap of ruins. 

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the restless 
state of the wicked says: “The wicked are like 
the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose 
waters cast up mire and dirt. ” The reference 
to the time “when it cannot rest” indicates 
that restlessness is not the normal condition 
of the sea, and it is not. The nature of the 
sea is to be peaceful, restful and calm, and it 
is only when the stormy winds beat upon it 
that its waters “cast up mire and dirt”. 

No one who has never seen the sea, felt its 
refreshing breath upon his cheek, swept his 
eye along its boundless horizon, heard the thun¬ 
der of its billows, or dipped himself in its briny 
waters, can form any adequate conception of 
what the sea really is; but to such as have thus 
become acquainted with it, it has a story to tell 
of the wonderful power it contains to serve or 
to destrov. 

•j 

Neither can one who lias never seen the sea 
when the stormy winds are turned loose upon 
it, rolling and tossing and foaming under their 
power, understand the prophet’s meaning. The 
storm-beaten sea itself is the only satisfactorv 
explanation of the statement. 

Standing on the shore and looking far out in 
the distance through the storm, it loses much of 


Social Relations. 


93 


its rough and billowy appearance and looks 
comparatively smooth and calm, and is beauti¬ 
ful, grand, sublime; but yonder, where it is 
breaking on the shore, you will see the drift 
stuff spread along that tells of the ruin the 
storm has wrought. 

So, also, with human society. It, too, has its 
calms and its storms. To the casual observer 
it may be compared to the sea when at rest, 
and he, contemplating it as he sees it may say 
“how pleasant, how delightful”, little under¬ 
standing what is really transpiring in the hid¬ 
den depts of the community life he sees but 
does not actually know. But—it may be as 
sudden and unexpected as the coming of the 
cyclone, the storm breaks, and then we see 
something of what was lying hidden in the 
great deep of social life; and as the storm 
passes the shore is strewn with the wreckage 
of broken vows, conjugal infidelity, debauched 
manhood and dishonored womanhood, of social 
unrest and disquiet, remorse and despair. 

What a beautiful picture of earthly condi¬ 
tions is that presented in the story of life in 
Eden before the great mischief-maker entered 
there! The earth provided man and beast a 
gratuitous living and all Nature was peaceful 
and harmonious. But then all was changed. 
The earth brought forth briars and thorns and 
man became subject to toil, suffering and death., 
all because a mischief-maker had entered his 
home and, pandering to what was intended to 


94 


Men Wanted. 


be the means of man’s development in know¬ 
ledge, the desire to know and understand mat¬ 
ters relating to the world he was to subdue 
and govern, deceived and robbed him of the 
blest estate that was his as the vicegerent of 
God in all the earth. 

And such is true of human society today. 
But for the mischief-makers, who, serpent like, 
drag their slimy lengths through every com¬ 
munity, we should be spared the discord and 
strife that is the bane of life and happiness. 

Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit. 

If a man would be helpful to society, he must 
win the public confidence, and this he can only 
do by showing that he possesses in himself the 
manly virtues he would promote in others, for 
“out of nothing, nothing comes” is as true of 
human character as it is of anything under the 
sun. His first determination must be to be 
right in every matter. He must get on the right 
side of every doubtful question. If others have 
reason to believe that he is not absolutely 
sincere, he can have no influence with them for 
good. 

A pastor, finding in the community where he 
was stationed quite a number of bright, intelli¬ 
gent young men who were not religious, set . 
himself to the task of winning them to become 
Christians; and one day being thrown in pri¬ 
vate company with one of them, engaged him 


Social Relations. 


95 


in religious conversation, in the course of which 

he said to him, “Mr. K_, have you ever 

thought seriously of the matter of religionf” 
The young man replied, “Not very much, re¬ 
cently. ” The pastor then asked, “Why not 
consider the matter? It is the most important 
of all things, and, besides, your parents are 
members of our church and we would be glad 
to have you come with them.” A moment of 
silence followed, after which the young man, 
with a look of disgust no words could express, 

answered: “Mr_, I believe in religion and 

no doubt there are many good people in the 
church, but, positively, sir, I do not want any 
of that sort of religion father has.” It is need¬ 
less to add that just there the conversation 
ended. There was nothing more to be said. 

If a man would be useful in elevating the 
moral tone of society, he must not only have a 
high ideal but he must strive for it with pains¬ 
taking care as to his own conduct, with a con¬ 
science sensitive to every suggestion of evil, 
with a zeal that never lags, a diligence that 
takes no holiday and an integrity that is un¬ 
questioned. In short, his life and character 
must be above suspicion. 

To have convictions as to what is right and 
what is our duty and shrink from following 
those convictions is cowardice, no matter what 
may be the cost of right conduct. To act in 
opposition to our highest convictions of right 
and duty is treason. To follow the way that 


96 


Men Wanted. 


conscience directs and duty requires may lead 
to 'bitter opposition or even to sacrifice for a 
time; but the true man is sure, sooner or later, 
of his vindication. 

An eminent authority speaking of the duty 
of self-control and ambition for higher ideals 
in young men has said, ‘‘Greatest of all is that 
young man who, having strength and wealth 
and living in the midst of powerful temptations 
and in a society that easily condones masculine 
immoralities, keeps himself untempted. There 
can be no self-control where there is no charac¬ 
ter, and there can be no character where there 
is no culture of heart and soul and mind, where 
there is no thought of God or of the destiny 
of life, no thought of higher duty to self and 
fellow man, to city, state and country, where 
there are not frequent visits to places of wor¬ 
ship and instruction for outlook and insight, 
for purification and inspiration.” 

“The real strength of a young man lies in 
setting a goal for himself worthy of the ambi¬ 
tion of the noblest and faithfully and persever- 
ingly working toward it, whether or not the 
mode of his life counteracts that of other young 
men. If a young man has not the courage to 
be himself, to lead his life according to his own 
light and after the standards approved by the 
best, he will be but another of the countless 
millions of ciphers that have preceded him.” 


Social Relations. 
Four-Square Men. 


97 


The cube is often used as symbol of perfec¬ 
tion. John, the Revelator, had a yisicn of the 
Holy City, the New Jerusalem, and writing of 
it he says, “The length and the breadth and the 
higlit of it are equal. ” The figure is just as 
applicable to the measurement of the stalwart, 
manly man. He is four square. Approach 
him from whatever direction you may, prove 
him as you will, you will always find the same 
upright, downright character, not long on some 
angles and short on others. He hates all that 
is low and mean just as ardently as he admires 
all that is noble and honorable. He will fight 
vice in any and every form with the same zeal 
that he will assist in promoting the cause of 
righteousness. He is loyal to every obligation, 
no matter whether it be to his God, to his fellow 
man or to himself. He cannot be false to any 
of these obligations without being false to all 
of them. 

He is an optimist in everything relating to 
life. He sees the bright side of life, because he 
has confidence in every thing that makes for the 
good. No man can be his best or do his best 
who lacks this fundamental element of virile, 
stalwart manhood. 

Confidence in the Fatherhood of God. 

Confidence- or faith in God and in His tender 
care and oversight of mankind is essential to 


98 


Men Wanted. 


a true, manly character. Without entering into 
any theological discussion of the general sub¬ 
ject involved here, I notice this confidence as 
opposed to the unbelief of the man who says, 
“The Creator made the world, then wound up 
its machinery and set it running and now stands 
aside to see it go.” That God rules the world 
under the laws he has instituted for its govern¬ 
ment no one questions, but that he has aban¬ 
doned it to law is quite another thing, and is a 
theory that the man who believes in the Father¬ 
hood of God and in His affectionate regard for 
mankind will never accept, but with Whittier he 
will say: 

“I know not where his islands lift their fronded 
palms in air, 

I only know I cannot drift beyond His love and 
care.” 


And in that loving care we trust and, trust¬ 
ing, go confidently forward in the daily round 
of duties and privileges as we meet them. 

We do not certainly know the sun will rise 
tomorrow, for there is coming an end to all ter¬ 
restrial things, and that end may come sudden¬ 
ly and unexpectedly; but we are so confident of 
it that we make our business plans without any 
doubt as to the continuance of the orderly 
course of Nature. We do not know we shall 
live to eat the fruit of the tree we plant, but 
we are confident that, barring some unusual 
circumstance, the tree will, if properly cared 


Social Relations. 


99 


for, bear fruit at the proper time; and so, trust¬ 
ing in the good providence of God, we plant 
the tree, hoping to live to enjoy the* fruits of 
our labor. 

The Integrity of Human Nature. 

Confidence in the integrity of society as a 
whole is also an element of the character of the 
four-square man; confidence that is not blind 
to the defects of humanity, but that, in spite of 
all the frailties that are common to human 
nature, believes that the heart of humanity is 
right. 

The social idea of humanity is in a process 
of development, as a comparison of existing 
standards with the standards of the past will 
clearly show. The “code of honor”, which was 
one time the usual resort for the settlement of 
disputes between “gentlemen”, no longer pre¬ 
vails, but has come to be regarded as nothing 
better than cold-blooded murder. Human 
slavery, that ancient institution which recog¬ 
nized the right of one man to own another and 
hold him as his chattel, is abolished by all Chris¬ 
tian and civilized governments. Polygamy, 
that in the days of King Solomon allowed him 
to have 700 wives and 300 concubines, and that 
for a while threatened the domestic and social 
life of our own country, is no longer tolerated 
outside that haven of refuge for all abomina¬ 
tions, the Turkish Empire. Imprisonment for 


100 


Men Wanted. 


debt is a tiling of the past, and the legalized 
liquor traffic, that “sum of all villainies”, has 
met its deserved death and burial at the hands 
of outraged humanity. 

These reforms move slowly sometimes, but 
as the light of Christian civilization advances, 
the things that make for our social undoing 
must vanish as the shadows do when the morn¬ 
ing sun rises. This is the guarantee of the 
stability of our Republican form of govern¬ 
ment —the majority ivill do right —and though 
mistakes will occasionally be made, will ulti¬ 
mately do what is best for the whole people. 

There are times when the old Latin proverb, 
“Vox Pupuli, vox Dei”, is not according to 
truth, as when the voice of the people favors 
any measure or principle of government that 
is morally vicious, or that is oppressive in its 
effect of any portion of society, as were the 
old pro-slavery laws of our country or some of 
our laws today under which legalized vice 
finds protection. Such laws are simply relics 
of the dark ages, when government was ad¬ 
ministered by an aristocracy that regarded 
neither the will of God nor the rights of the 
common people, a spirit that finds a modern 
demonstration in a war that deluged Europe in 
blood, and in which millions of men were led 
like so many sheep to the slaughter, simply to 
indulge the pride and unholy ambition of in¬ 
human and unconscionable rulers. 

But the day of judgment comes for all such 


*? 

t ° m ) 

o 

( O V 1 


Social Relations. 


101 


unrighteous government, and when outraged 
humanity will no longer bear the galling yoke 
of such tyranny, the majority of the people 
express the voice of God in the overthrow and 
punishment of the evildoers. England had her 
Cromwell, France her Mirabeau and Robes¬ 
pierre, America her Washington and Lincoln, 
and the leaders of every public wrong, be it 
political or social, may well remember that the 
avenger is on their track. 

Confidence in the providential care of God 
and in the integrity of human nature carries 
with it confidence in the final triumph of right 
principles. When Fort Sumpter was fired upcn 
in the spring of 1861, President Lincoln sum¬ 
moned General Scott, the commander of our 
armies, to a conference at the White House. 
During the interview, General Scott, who was 
greatly exercised over the situation, said to 
the President, “I hope God is on our side in 
this matter. ” “ General, that is not the way I 
am viewing it,” Mr. Lincoln replied. “I believe 
we are on God’s side, and if we are we must 
win.” One of Cromwell’s colonels, addressing 
a subordinate who seemed fearful for their 
cause, said: “What have you to fear? Know¬ 
ing that our cause is right, trust God and strike 
hard.” The man who believes in the eternal 
principle of righteousness knows that, though 
the heavens and the earth may pass away, 
truth and righteousness are eternal, for 


102 


Men Wanted. 


“Right is right, since God is God, 

And right the day must win; 

To doubt would be disloyalty, 

To falter would be sin.” 

Another indispensable element of this charac¬ 
ter is confidence in one’s self. Not that self 
confidence which consists one-half of Pharisaic 
egotism and the other half of a total disregard 
of all proprieties. No, not that sort of self 
confidence, but a confidence that is as modest 
in its expression as it is positive and unfalter¬ 
ing in undertaking what ought to be done; not 
what some one else ought to do but what I ought 
to do, and defiant of senseless opposition, un¬ 
dismayed by the indifference of those from 
whom one might reasonably expect hearty co¬ 
operation in seeking to promote the best inter¬ 
est of society, addresses itself to the over¬ 
throw of all that is harmful and the promotion 
of all that is helpful and good. 

The One Man Power. 

“The one man power is all that counts.” The 
unit in civic righteousness is the basis of com¬ 
munity life. As the individual citizen stands, 
so stands the community sentiment. The secret 
of political righteousness lies in an incorrupti¬ 
ble citizenry. The political organization will 
be no more patriotic or morally upright and 
clean than the men who formulate its doctrines 
and write its platforms. Speaking politically, 


Social Relations 


103 


one man says, “I vote for men who can be 
trusted to support correct principles.’ ’ Another 
says, “I vote for principles as expressed in our 
platform, and expect the men I help to elect to 
support those principles.” But correct princi¬ 
ples and trustworthy men to enforce them are 
equally essential in order to good government. 
The good citizen is the man who, with the fear 
of God before him and the highest good of 
society his constant aim, is actuated not by 
partisan bias and prejudice but by patriotism 
that is always loyal to civic and political right¬ 
eousness. The solution of all our municipal, 
state and national problems involving the in¬ 
tegrity of our government, in the final analysis, 
is found in the life and conduct of the individ¬ 
ual citizen. 

All reformations begin with the individual. 
The reformation of the sixteenth century began 
in the lives of a few individuals, prominent 
among whom was Martin Luther, an obscure 
friar, who, by his fearless and uncompromising 
arraignment of the abuses of his time, revolu¬ 
tionized the religious sentiment of his day and 
kindled the fires of reformation that swept over 
all Europe. So, also, with all the great reform¬ 
ations that have come to bless the world, and 
so today and forever the hope of the community 
and of the nation lies in the fearless advocacy 
of an unfaltering devotion to the cause of civic 
righteousness by the individual citizen. 

The man who resolves to do only what is 


104 


Men Wanted. 


right, without regard to public opinion, has 
God on his side, or, rather, as Mr. Lincoln was 
wont to say, is on God’s side; and as “God and 
one man constitute a majority”, because of his 
alliance with Omnipotence, that one man is a 
greater power for good than all the civic bet¬ 
terment clubs and social organizations that are 
not distinctively and positively committed to 
uncompromising warfare against all that is 
wrong in our political and social life. When 
President Lincoln wrote and published his 
Emancipation Proclamation, England was 
seriously considering the matter of recognizing 
file Southern Confederacv; but that one act of 
a man who dared to do his duty as he interpret¬ 
ed it, though he must act against the protest 
of many of his friends and advisers, changed 
the attitude of the British government, and, 
undoubtedly, helped to determine the course of 
events that hastened the close of the war and 
stopped the awful waste of life and treasure. 

A gentleman who was an earnest and fearless 
champion of the cause of temperance and pro¬ 
hibition, who never hesitated to assail the liquor 
traffic and all who were connected with it as the 
enemies of the cause of righteousness, was 
cautioned by a professed friend of the cause 
of temperance who had a soft spot in his heart 
for the saloon men, that he ought to be less 
severe in his treatment of the saloon business, 
as he was, by his course, making personal ene¬ 
mies and might do the temperance cause harm 


Social Relations. 


105 


by arousing* opposition among the conservative 
element, and at the same time advising him 
to consider what the consequences of the course 
he was pursuing might be both as it related to 
himself and to the cause he was advocating, to 
which he replied: “consequences?” What have 
I to do with consequences? It is my duty to 
tell the truth about this unholy traffic; to un¬ 
cover the iniquity of this business. I am trying 
to do my duty, and I shall leave the consequen¬ 
ces to God and the people where they belong. 
Such steadfastness requires the courage of 
one’s convictions, a courage that cannot be 
shaken by either bribe or threat, and that has 
very recentlv been beautifully portrayed in a 
poem on “ MORAL COURAGE” 

“MORAL COURAGE” 
by 

EDGAR A. GUEST. 

There’s a courage that is greater than the test of fire 
and sword, 

There’s a greater proof of mettle than the battlefields 
afford, 

And I would that I might teach it to that boy of mine 
today 

So that he may never weaken as he goes along his way. 
It’s the courage of conviction that can stand the cruel 
gaff 

And dare to do the right thing when his thoughtless 
playmates laugh. 

I want to have him sturdy, and I hope he’ll never show 
The pale cheek of the coward when he has to take a 
blow; 


106 


Men Wanted. 


I hope he will not whimper and too bitterly complain 

When his wish is disappointed and a dream he fails to 
gain. 

But above this ouward courage and beyond this sign of 
fear, 

I hope he’ll stand undaunted when his thoughtless fel¬ 
lows sneer. 

When his gang is all against him—that’s the time I 
want him true, 

When his playmates urge upon him what he knows is 
wrong to do, 

When he’s taunted with derision, then I want him at 
his best, 

For, spite all that he must cope with, this is boyhood’s 
hardest test; 

And the greatest proof of courage is to stand and take 
the gaff 

And dare to do the right thing when his thoughtless 
playmates laugh. 

Copyright, 1922 by Edgar A. Guest. 


The Home Maker. 


“Home is the one place in all this world 
where hearts are sure of each other.” 

F. W. Robertson. 

“Home should he the center of joy, equatoral 
and tropical.” H. W. Beecher. 

“To Adam, Paradise teas home. To the good 
among his descendants, home is Paradise.” 

Dr. Hare. 

“If God he there, a cottage will hold as much 
happiness as might stock a palace.” 

“In the formation of character, the most 
telling influence is the early home.” 

J. Hamilton. 

“The road to home happiness lies over small 
stepping stones. Slight circumstances are the 
stumbling-blocks of families.” 

Anonymous. 


A modern writer asks: “Is the home life of 
the nation decaying?” No more important 
matter than this can demand the serious con¬ 
sideration of the American people. 

The home is the chief cornerstone in the 
great superstructure of our American civiliza- 




108 


Men Wanted. 


tion. The family relation was the first rela¬ 
tionship established by the Creator and should 
always be regarded as the most sacred, for as 
the standard of conduct is in the homes of the 
people, so will be the social life of the commun¬ 
ity, the religious life of the church and the 
political life of the nation. He who corrupts 
the home life lays a mine under everything that 
is dear to us. He who would invade the sanctity 
of the home of another, sowing seeds of discord 
or fomenting strife, is the worst of enemies to 
society. 

•j 

The strength of the nation is not in its mili¬ 
tary and naval preparation for defense, but in 
the moral and Christian integrity of the people. 
A nation is strong when the spirit of its citi¬ 
zenry is serious and chivalrous, and it is cor¬ 
respondingly weak when the spirit of the peo- 
ple runs to frivolity and indifference to serious 
matters. It is strong when it is stalwart in mo¬ 
rals and in the true sense patriotic, and cor¬ 
respondingly weak when it is effeminate and 
foolish. 

We sometimes hear some of the laws that 
safeguard our social and religious institutions 
derisively characterized as “puritanical” by 
those who plead for more liberal laws relating 
to onr moral and religious institutions; and yet 
everybody knows it is the spirit of the laws 
enacted by the Puritan Fathers that has held 
this nation steady against the demoralizing in¬ 
fluences that have destroyed the moral fiber of 


The Home Maker. 


109 


other and older nations, whose downfall has 
been traceable to the deterioration of the home 
life of the people. 

For two hundred and thirty years among the 
Romans, under the government established by 
Romulus, there was not a case of a man divorc¬ 
ing his wife or of a woman divorcing her hus¬ 
band, and during all that time the Roman 
people were, according to their ideas of social 
and domestic morality, unimpeachable; the na¬ 
tion was prosperous in all her industrial and 
commercial affairs, successful in all her inter¬ 
nal and maritime enterprises and invincible in 
battle. 

But Spurius Carvilius, a man of social and 
political influence, having grown tired of his 
lawful wife and having discovered his “affin¬ 
ity” in another woman, divorced his wife, and 
others following his example soon caused the 
practice to become general, with the result that 
the sacred rite of marriage was degraded to 
the level of a convenience and conjugal love 
gave place to whimsical and lustful caprice. 

The effect of this was soon apparent in social 
and moral disintegration and degeneracy. The 
courage and bravery of the Romans wasted, the 
heart of their civilization became atrophied; 
and having lost the spirit of their fathers, they 
proved an easy prey to the horde of barbarians 
whom Alaric led against them, and the glory 
of Rome departed. 

One of the sadest features of our national 


110 


Men Wanted. 


life is the growing tendency to regard with in¬ 
difference the sacredness of the conjugal rela¬ 
tion. The considerations that ought to lie at 
the base of matrimony, such as congeniality of 
temperament and disposition, moral and relig¬ 
ious sentiment, as well as physical ability and 
mental disposition to undertake the duties and 
responsibilities of married life, are either ig¬ 
nored or overlooked in the mad scramble for 
wealth or social position; marriage is hastily 
and inconsiderately entered into, and instead 
of establishing a home a lodging house is set 
up; instead of rearing a family, which is the 
divine idea and purpose in the conjugal rela¬ 
tion, the whole life is given up to social func¬ 
tions and promiscuous and improper inter¬ 
mingling; instead of assuming the serious re¬ 
sponsibilities of life they go to live in a ‘‘fool’s 
paradise”, and the result is soon seen in 
domestic infelicity, marital infidelity, desertion 
and divorce. 

There was a time in our history when it was 
considered a disgrace to be divorced, and reput¬ 
able people sought it only as a last resort and 
in extreme cases; but the time has come when 
it is clothed with the garb of respectability and 
sanctioned by society as an easy and honorable 
exit from uncongenial matrimonial relations. 
Men and women trifle with each other’s affec¬ 
tions; they lightly consider the importance of 
the marriage vows; regard matrimony as a 
convenience or an experiment and hastily and 


The Home Maker. 


Ill 


unadvisedly enter into it, with a sort of tacit 
understanding that, if it shall prove unsatis¬ 
factory, there is an easy way out of it through 
an accomodating divorce court, and no one 
will be the worse for having made the experi¬ 
ment. 

It is our shame that the rate percent of divor¬ 
ces in proportion to population is greater in 
this country than in any other on earth from 
which statistics have been gathered. We have 
reached the appalling number of 66,000 annual¬ 
ly and the number is increasing, proportion¬ 
ately, three times as fast as the population of 
the country. How long can we drift in this 
direction and at this rate without splitting on 
the rock where other nations have stranded? 

“Is the home life of the nation decaying?” 
This we can only determine by comparing the 
home life of today with that of the past. If we 
compare the temporial comforts and the liter¬ 
ary and ethical culture of the modern home 
with that of former times, there can be but 
one answer to the question, an unqualified NO. 
The modem home in these respects is far in 
advance of the home of even half a century 
ago, but in some other respects we must confess 
we have departed a long way from the elegant 
simplicity, frugality and comfort of other days, 
be that departure for better or for worse. 

Among the distinguising characteristics of 
the home life, especially in the rural districts 
and largely in the town and village life, when 


112 


Men Wanted. - 


the men and women of todav who are threescore 

«/ 

or beyond were boys and girls, we recall, first: 

FRUGALITY, not penuriousness, not undue 
economy, but prudent economy, careful man¬ 
agement which wasted nothing, but which turn¬ 
ed everything to advantage. There was no lack 
of good, comfortable clothing, but there was 
no tribute paid to the goddess or fashion. Our 
mother’s bonnets were neat and modest and 
they were pretty, too, and did not cost sufficient 
amounts to embarrass father when he paid the 
hills. Comfort was the sine quinon in all such 
matters. Who cannot recall the “lindsey- 
woolsey” dress mother wore, or the “fustain 
suit” for father and the hoys? And, oh, such 
winter stockings! The wool was taken from 
the sheep on the farm, sheared and washed by 
father, carded and spun by mother and then 
mother and sister did the knitting. 

In the matter of diet the same frugality was 
observed. The food, like the clothing, was 
plain but rich and nutritious, and the effect of 
this frugality and moderation was seen in a 
healthy and robust body and constitution with 
scant need of a physician. 

Another characteristic was INDUSTRY. 
Work for all and all at work. There were no 
drones in the hive then. Each one had his or 
her allotted task. A recent writer reviewing 
those times says: “In the old days of town and 
village life, every one worked with his hands, 
more or less. Home was a bee-hive of industry. 


The Home Maker. 


113 


Mother worked at a dozen trades. Father had 
a variety of hand crafts. When the child was 
barely able to hold tools he helped his parents. 
When the boy wanted a kite he made it, when 
he wanted a sled he made it, also. Most toys 
were made at home. What was the mental and 
moral result? The child grew up with the idea 
of being self-helpful, responsible. When a 
thing was desired one worked to get it.” 

The young men did not spend their evenings 
at the billiard table or in the pool rcom, but 
in reading books which would bring them in¬ 
formation that would be useful to them in the 
days to come, and when diversion was desired 
it was found in some of the manly sports. The 
young woman did not spend her afternoons at 
bridge whist, her nights at the theatre, the 
opera or the ball, and then her forenoons in bed 
recuperating from the effects of her dissipa¬ 
tion while mother did the housework. She 
learned to cook the food she ate and wash the 
clothes she wore and to “keep house”. She 
also learned to cut and make the garments she 
wore. In short, she was taught to do all the 
work that goes with good housekeeping, and 
when she married she was competent to take 
care of her home and economically use what her 
husband’s earnings provided for the support 
of the family. 

No young woman is fit to be the wife of a 
young man who must make his way through the 
world by his own industry who does not know 


114 


Men Wanted. 


liow to take care of a home or who is not willing 
to undertake the task. She ought to be just as 
much at home in the kitchen as in the parlor. 
If, when she marries, her husband is financially 
able to hire the help necessary to do the house¬ 
work, it is very easy to lay that aside when 
it is not necessary for the wife to perform it; 
but unless the wife knows how the work ought 
to be done and sees that it is done properly, the 
probability is that very much of her husband’s 
earnings will be wasted through the extrava¬ 
gance, if not dishonesty, of hired servants. 

No matter what a man’s income may be, an 
improvident, neglectful and extravagant wife 
can waste it all and “keep his nose to the 
grind-stone”, if he will give her a free rein and 
sufficient time. On the other hand, no matter 
how poor a young man may be, if he is indus¬ 
trious and frugal in his habits, possessed of 
gc od business sense, and has a wife who is 
capable and willing to do her share toward 
making the home, they will not be long in 
establishing one of the true type. It may not 
be a brown-stone or marble palace, but in all 
the essentials of the true home where love 
reigns, where beautiful simplicity is shown in 
everything and where mutual love and con¬ 
siderate kindness is shown for one another, the 
home where “self is lost and found again in 
the being of another”—in truth, the heme 
which is but one step removed from the eternal 
paradise may be his, the home where, as Pit- 


The Home Maker. 115 

tacus tells us, “superfluities are not required 
and necessaries are not wanting.” 

A third characteristic of the home in former 
times was HOME DISCIPLINE. There was 
a center of authority arcund which all the 
duties and privileges of the family revolved 
and to which every one 'bowed. The parental 
authority was law. That authority regulated 
the dress, the company the children and young 
people might keep, the amount of money they 
might spend, the character of the books they 
might read, the entertainments they might at¬ 
tend, the time for retiring and the time for 
rising; in short, every thing pertaining to the 
orderly movements and habits of the whole 
family. 

It also included the observance of religious 
duties; first of all, the family worship. Morn¬ 
ing and evening the family was gathered to¬ 
gether, the Scriptures were read and often a 
hymn was sung, and then the father, after the 
example of the patriarch of old, invoked the 
blessing of God on the household; and, under 
the benediction of this parental influence, they 
went away to the duties of the day or retired 
to their rest for the night. When the Sabbath 
came, it was the thing to do to attend public 
worship in the house of God and reverently to 
participate in the services. 

Among the earliest recollections of the writer 
stand out clear and distinct memories that are 
associated with the sanctuary. Near by the 


116 


M en Wanted. 


farm on which we lived was the church where 
our family attended divine service. It was 
situated on a beautiful hillside and close by on 
the north was a sparkling, flowing brook. On 
the east was a picturesque grove of oak and 
maple trees, while on the south and west was 
the community grave yard. 

The memory of those days lingers as a holy 
inspiration, a blessed heritage of the days of 
my youth, when a sort of primitive simplicity 
characterized the services of the house of God. 

The minister was not regarded then as an 
hireling, whose sermons must be trimmed and 
adorned with “flowers of earthly sort” to suit 
the tastes of those who paid his salary, but, 
rather, as the prophet of God who came to them 
with a message which they must respectfully 
receive. 

The old church no longer adorns the hillside. 
The home where my father and mother lived 
and reared their family of children has long 
ago passed into the possession cf others. 
Father and mother do not now worship in 
earthly temples but have for many years wor¬ 
shipped in the “ building of God—eternal in 
the heavens”. The things temporal have pass¬ 
ed away with the flight of years, but the mem¬ 
ory of the home of my childhood with all its 
sacred associations and, above all else, its re¬ 
ligious teachings and influences that first in¬ 
clined me to “seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness”, abides. From my 


The Home Maker. 


117 


heart I pity the young man or young woman 
who must go out into the swirling tides of this 
world’s evil influences unsupported and unpro¬ 
tected by the saving influence of godly parents 
and a Christian home. 

While not every home was thus dominated 
by a Christian influence, in those other days 
this was the recognized standard of home, and 
it is safe to say that the majority of the homes 
were, to a greater or less degree, Christian 
homes. 

But how about the majority of the homes of 
today, even the homes of professing Christian 
parents! How many boys and girls grow up 
to young manhood and womanhood who have 
never knelt at a family altar, and who rarely 
attend divine worship on the Sabbath! They 
have never known any religious restraint, either 
in the home or as it pertains to the public wor¬ 
ship of God on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is 
no longer regarded by them as a holy institu¬ 
tion, a day to be observed as “holy unto the 
Lord”, but rather as a day to be devoted to 
pleasure seeking and dissipation. 

Prominent among the agencies that promote 
irreverence and irreligion are: the Sunday 
newspaper with its disgusting comic attrac¬ 
tions, evidently printed with the special pur¬ 
pose of soliciting the attention of the children 
and young people ; the Sunday picture theatre 
with its blood-curdling exhibitions of pictures 
that are absolutely unfit for anybody, and es- 


118 


Men Wanted. 


pecially children, to see; together with athletic 
sports of every conceivable sort set aside for 
Sunday exhibition; and think for one moment 
what the effect of all this must be on the mind 
of our voutli who are to be the home makers of 
tomorrow. Is it any wonder if the public mor¬ 
als are degenerating, that the public religious 
worship is neglected and that religion in the 
home is decaying! 


Making A Home. 

If you were going to build a factory there are 
several things you should keep well in mind, 
and among them one of the most important is 
the location. It should be convenient to the 
supply of raw material to be used in manufac¬ 
turing, so that the material can be secured with 
the least possible cost for transportation, and 
due consideration should also be given to a 
location where the necessary help for running 
the plant could be easily procured. Then, too, 
the building must be planned suitably to ac¬ 
comodate the machinery to be installed. All 
this is applicable to the making of a home. The 
lacation should be, first of all, in a lealthy 
neighborhood. The business men of all our 
cities are recognizing this fact, as evidenced 
by the. great number of suburban homes they 
are building, where they and their families can 
get the full benefit of pure air and sunshine. 


The Home Maker. 


119 


There is something really pathetic, as well as 
eloquent, in the words of the poet who, com¬ 
pelled perhaps by circumstances to spend the 
afternoon of his life day in the busy hustle of 
city life, indulging awhile in reminiscence, 
wrote: 

“I like it not, this noisy street, 

I never liked’t, nor can I now. 

I like to feel the pleasant breeze 
On the green hills, and see the trees 
With birds upon their boughs. 

O, I remember long ago, 

So long ago ’tis like a dream— 

My home was on a green hillside, 

’Mid flow’ry meadows, still and wide, 

’Mong trees and by a stream.” 


Convenience is another matter that should 
receive attention. Convenience as to the source 
of supplies; convenient to school for the 
children; convenient to churches; in fact, con¬ 
venient as far as possible to every necessity of 
life, while the internal arrangement should con¬ 
serve the comfcrt and convenience of the fam¬ 
ily. Everything that can be done, should be, 
to make the home attractive and comfortable, 
for a man’s home is the center of the world to 
him. It is the point of departure from which 
we go out into the great life battle, and it is 
the depository into which we bring back all the 
spoils we gain. 

The cost of the building should be regulated 
by the financial ability of the maker. Better 


120 


Men Wanted. 


a modest bungalow with freedom from debt 
than a pretentious mansion with an enibarass- 
ing mortgage. One of the mistakes that very 
many young people make in beginning life is 
trying to start where their parents leave off. 
Better make a modest beginning and enlarge 
your borders when your financial condition will 
justify it. 

But the cost of setting up the home is not to 
be measured by the financial outlay. It implies 
the surrender of some other things, such as the 
giving up of selfish pleasures and the breaking 
cff of other associations. Until a young man 
decides to make his home his chief delight, until 
he really feels that he will prefer it to all beside, 
he is not capable of appreciating the blessings 
of a home. 

A minister of the gospel, considering the 
matter of temperance reform, came to the con¬ 
clusion that the only way to counteract the evil 
influence of the saloon was in some way to 
bring it under the supervision of the church, 
and so he assisted in establishing what was 
known as “The Subway Tavern”, which was 
to combine in one the chief features of the 
sale on and the social club—a sort of “poor 
man’s club”, and in justification of his act he 
said: “The poor man, the laboring man, needs 
the saloon as a means of social enjoyment. I 
can go to dinner or for a social evening to any 
one of a dozen clubs, but what of the man who 


The Home Maker. 121 

lives in two rooms with five small children? 
He has no club.” 

Any man who is compelled to live in two 
rooms and has a wife and five small children 
has all the club he needs. And certainly the 
wife and children who share his poverty with 
him are entitled to his companionship during 
his leisure hours. It is a sad fact that many 
men who, because of the necessity for them to 
leave their homes in the early morning hours 
in order to get to their places of employment 
in proper time, and who must return to their 
homes late in the evening, scarcely have time 
to get acquainted with their families. Their 
homes partake too much of the nature of the 
lodging house. One of the crying needs of the 
laboring man today is such a readjustment of 
industrial affairs as will permit him to perform 
his allotted daily task without depriving him 
of the opportunity to enjoy the companionship 
of his family. And the signs of the times point 
encouragingly in this direction. 

But the man who builds the home is not the 
only one who must surrender something in or¬ 
der to set up the new establishment. Think 
what it means to the young wife who must leave 
the home where she has spent a happy child¬ 
hood and youth, and its companionship, to go 
out and assist in making the new home and to 
give herself absolutely to the tender mercies 
of her husband. Matrimony means a great 
deal to the man, but it means infinitely more to 


122 


Men Wanted. 


the woman. To the man matrimony is a con¬ 
quest, but to the woman it is a surrender. 

Nor can we stop here in estimating the cost 
of establishing the new home. The demand for 
surrender reaches beyond the parties them¬ 
selves. At least two other homes must contri¬ 
bute to the cost of sacrifice, the homes from 
whence the young husband and wife go out. 
A gentleman had an only daughter who was the 
idol of his heart and who married and went 
with her husband to settle in life very far from 
her former home. In speaking of her marriage 
the father said: “I loved her better than I 
loved my own life. We had never had a dis¬ 
agreement. She had never intentionally dis¬ 
obeyed me. But for all that I never realized 
hew much she really was to me and what it 
would mean for me to part with her until her 
lover came to ask my consent to their marriage. 
It was hard for me to realize that another man 
had come between me and my daughter and was 
going to supersede me in her affections.” 


The Home A Likeness of its Maker. 

4 ‘The way to make a home what it should be 
is, first of all, for the home maker to be that 
himself.” A man’s work may be much less 
than his ability to produce, but no man can 
make anything that is greater than himself. He 
must of necessity be greater than his best effort, 


The Home Maker. 123 

just as the great Creator is greater than all 
His creation. 

This being true, it follows that in its appoint¬ 
ments for the well-being and comfort of his 
family, in its social atmosphere and in its moral 
and religious standards, a man’s home will be 
a reflection of what the man himself is. How 
can the head of a family forbid his children 
doing the things which he practices! If it is 
right for him to do a thing, how can it be wrong 
for his boy to do the same thing! If he drinks 
intoxicating liquors, why is it wrong fcr his 
son to use them, too! If he indulges in profane 
or improper language of any sort, with what 
degree of consistency can he reprove his boy 
for following his example! If he is careless in 
his personal habits, neglectful to the things 
that pertain to neatness and cleanliness, why 
should lie expect his household to do other¬ 
wise! 

The home maker is charged with the duty 
of keeping the home secure against all that 
would contaminate it socially, morally and re¬ 
ligiously. This duty will require ceaseless 
vigilance because of the spirit of the times in 
which we are living, and especially because of 
the increasing tendency toward loose and easy- 
gcing morals and the unscrupulous effrontery 
of social pirates, who regard neither the law of 
God nor the rights of men and who delight in 
nothing more than in dragging down reputable 
and decent people to the level cf their own 


124 


Men Wanted. 


moral uncleanness and degradation. Moral 
and social lepers tliey are, who befoul the very 
atmosphere wherever they go. In order that 
you may be equal to the duties of your position, 
keep yourself clean—clean morally, clean 
socially, absolutely clean. 

The most comely and attractive being on 
earth is a pure, chaste and virtuous young wo¬ 
man, and the noblest and most heroic being who 
lives beneath the stars is the absolutely clean 
and pure young man: the young man who has 
never defiled his body but who, recognizing the 
momentous truth the great Apostle taught when 
he said, “Know ye not that your body is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost”, has kept that tem¬ 
ple clean and undefiled: the young man who has 
never degraded his mind by making it the de¬ 
pository for storing foolish, obscene and vulgar 
thcughts, and who has never depraved his soul, 
prodigal like, by associating with the swine. 

The first thing a young man will demand in 
the woman he will take for his wife will be 
moral, mental and physical purity, chastity 
that is without a stain; and she who is expected 
to give so much is fairly entitled to expect and 
receive the same of her husband. 

The single standard of mcrals is the only 
standard that can be defended on any ground 
of reason or righteousness. What is allowable 
in the conduct of a man ought to be allowable 
in the conduct of a woman, and what is wrong 
in the conduct of one is in reality just as wrong 


The Home Maker. 


125 


in the conduct of the other. Yet there is a 
disposition to excuse in young men a degree of 
license that would forever damn a young 
woman. 

It is hard to credit the statement found in 
recent health statistics and made by an eminent 
medical authority, who declares that his inves¬ 
tigations justify the assertion that a large 
majority of the young men of our country are, 
to a greater or less degree, the victims of the 
social evil, and, because of this fact, are unfit 
for the sacred relation of husband and father. 
The greatest compliment that can be paid to 
a young man today is to have those who know 
him best say of him, “He is absolutely clean.” 

The home influence is greater than the influ¬ 
ence of school or the church, important as these 
are. The nursery fixes its stamp upon its pro¬ 
duct, and we are good or bad, religious or ir¬ 
religious, civil and polite or rude and impolite, 
honest or dishonest, as a general thing, accord¬ 
ing to the training received in childhood, and 
upon this will turn the moral quality of the 
individual and his influence among his fellows. 

A farmer planted a peach orchard on his 
farm and the trees grew nicely and made a 
beautiful young orchard, giving promise of a 
fine return in fruit, but just when the trees 
came to the age for fruiting they showed evi¬ 
dence of the “yellows”, and in a short while 
the whole orchard had to be pulled out and 
burned up. The farmer was puzzled as to the 


126 


Men Wanted. 


source of the disease, for his land had never 
before shown any evidence of being infected 
with it, nor was there any evidence of it any¬ 
where in his neighborhood; but finally, on mak¬ 
ing diligent inquiry, he found that the nursery 
from which he procured his trees contained the 
disease. Likewise, the criminal statistics of our 
country show conclusively that the downward 
career of very many, if not indeed the majority 
of the young men who go wrong, is traceable 
to a lack of home government during their 
childhood and youth. The word of God prom¬ 
ises, 4 ‘ Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 
This is but another way of saying that proper 
restraint and discipline in the home training 
of childhood and youth will have its effect in 
after life, even to the time of old age. 

Making Home, Home. 

Henry Ward Beecher once said, “Home 
should be the center of joy, equatorial and trop¬ 
ical.” How true! It is the place above all 
others where strife and discord should never 
enter, and where all that is promotive of peace 
and joy should abound continually; where every 
one should strive to make everybody else happy, 
and that with a persistance which never lags, 
a patience that never gets threadbare, and with 
a sweetness which never gets sour. And to 


The Home Maker. 127 

the cultivation of this spirit, the father must 
contribute his full share. 

The real test of a man’s character is his home 
life. The politician may smile at the criticism 
of his opponent while he boils with rage within, 
for it would 'be impolite for him to resent it. 
The business man for business reasons may 
restrain the passion that, if given the rein, 
would like a mad horse run away with him. In 
the great world exchange, men are like actors 
on the stage, always assuming characters that 
are entirely foreign to their true selves; but in 
the inner circle of the home we throw off all 
disguises, all masks and cloaks, and appear 
what we really are. 

There are not wanting those who can endure 
the nagging experiences of a whole day in the 
store, the shop or the office and never loose 
their temper, who cannot wait five minutes be¬ 
yond the usual time for a meal or endure the 
fretfulness of a sick child without exploding 
with impatience, if not real anger. 

It is not wise to lose one’s patience or to 
give way to a feeling of anger any time or 
anywhere, but by all means one should keep 
his politest manners, his kindest words and his 
sweetest spirits for the home. Remember that 
you do not have to use language that is harsh 
or unkind in itself to convey the impression of 
impatience or displeasure. The meaning of 
our words, as interpreted by those to whom we 
speak, depends very largely on the tone of voice 


128 


Men Wanted. 


with which we utter them or our facial expres¬ 
sion when we speak. A frown is as much out 
of place in the home as churlishness would be 
in heaven. Sarcasm, ridicule, irony and scold¬ 
ing have no place in the conversation of a well 
regulated home. One can be positive without 
being harsh or coercive. He can command with 
authority without Draconian severity or dis¬ 
playing a haughty spirit. If everything doesn't 
go just as you would like to have it, don't fret. 
Even if something goes wrong through appar¬ 
ent neglect, don’t scold. If under some strong 
provocation, your wife should lose her temper 
or, rather, find her temper, and say or do some¬ 
thing that is hard to bear without resenting, 
don’t pout, don’t sulk, don't be provoked to 
say or do something ugly in return; but show 
your manhood by forbearance and your love 
for her by “ turning the other cheek". Remem¬ 
ber, she has many things to try her patience 
that you know nothing of and that, no doubt, 
you would not endure with such good grace as 
she is displaying. 

¥ 

Love, The Indispensable Thing. 

‘ ‘ The unit of humanity is not the man or the 
woman, but the man and the woman." As the 
Scripture declares, “Therefore, shall the man 
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave 
unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." 
Made one, not by the simple fact of a marriage 


The Home Maker. 129 

ceremony, but by the cementing tie of mutual 
affection. 

There can be no real home where love is 
wanting. There may be an imposing building— 
it may be the acme of the builder’s art; it may 
be exquisitely furnished; the surroundings may 
leave nothing to be desired and there may be 
no lack of the things necessary for the comfort 
of the family; but unless there is that conjugal 
love and that paternal affection, which together 
constitute the cementing bond of the family, 
that house is but a pile of brick and mortar, 
serving as a lodging house for the family 
living there. 

There may be love in the home and it may 
fail of its fruition because we are not careful 
to manifest it. If you love your family, show 
it in your conduct. In many homes where there 
really is love, there is unhappiness because of 
a neglect of this very important matter. The 
husband who is a very busy man may think 
when he has carefully provided for the wants 
of his family that he is absolved from further 
obligation; but there is something more than 
this necessary in order to make home what it 
ought to be. All that he will do for his horses 
or cattle, leaving his servants to administer 
his bounty. Remember, your children are not 
your chattels, neither is your wife your servant. 

A wife speaking freely to her pastor of her 
home life, said: “I have a splendid husband. 
He is a good provider. We do not lack any 


130 


Men Wanted. 


comfort in the home. He is very careful in 
all these matters; but he is so engrossed and 
absorbed with business that when he comes 
home from the store or office he brings his busi¬ 
ness with him and seems to think of little be¬ 
side, even for the few hours lie spends with us 
in the home. He seems to forget that I am here 
alone with the child all day and am really hun¬ 
gering for some word of affection from him, 
maybe just a little word, you know; but I must 
wait in vain. I try to make the best of it, try 
not to let him know just he w I feel about the 
matter, yet my very soul is actually starving. 
Oh, if husbands would only realize the fact that 
we wives appreciate more than anything else 
just to know by our husbands’ actions that they 
love us! If we might have only now and then 
the tender, affectionate embrace and just a few 
words of loving appreciation, we could meet 
life’s battles much more courageously.” 

Matthew Henry, commenting on the Scripture 
account of the creation of woman and her gift 
to Adam to be “a help meet for him”, says: 
“She was taken from man’s side to show us 
that she was to be a companion for him, from 
under his arm to teach us that he is to be her 
protector and from near his heart to show that 
he is to love her.” Companionship, protection 
and love, but the greatest of these is love, for 
only in proportion as we love another is com¬ 
panionship desirable, and only in the same pro- 


The Home Maker. 131 

portion are we willing to give ourselves for 
another’s protection and defense. 

If we may judge of some husbands’ motives 
by their actions, we might conclude they mar¬ 
ried their wives to get rid of them by isolating 
them in the home while the husband enjoys the 
freedom of a “lord of creation”. 

Religion in the Home. 

This is of all things the most important. No 
man can be the husband and father he ought to 
be who does not religiously conduct the affairs 
of his household. The whole atmosphere of 
the home ought to be saturated with a religious 
influence. 

A pastor was one day visiting at the home of 
one of his people, and as they sat conversing 
two, bright, young children were playing on 
the floor before them when the gentleman said 
to his pastor, “Do you know, can you guess, 
what it was that first led me to consider serious¬ 
ly the matter of religion and that finally induced 
me to become a Christian?” Then, pointing to 
the children, he said, “There it is. I was one day 
watching them at play, just as they are now. 
I seemed to see them in the coming years, sub¬ 
jected as they will be to all the seductive in¬ 
fluences that will appeal to them, and I said to 
myself, ‘What can determine their course in 
life, the way they will go, the choices they will 
make and the characters they will develop?’ 


132 


Men Wanted. 


And my own judgment answered, ‘ Their early 
training more than anything else, and fcr this 
I am responsible but unfitted.’ Right there and 
then I gave my heart to God and asked Him to 
teach me, so that I might give to them the 
religious training they ought to have in order 
that they might lead virtuous and holy lives, 
and that I might not be condemned for the 
neglect of what I conceive to be the greatest 
responsibility I have on earth. ’ ’ 

There is no greater responsibility incumbent 
upon man than the responsibility of the parent 
for his child. He is responsible for its exist¬ 
ence, and sc he is responsible for its support; 
for the care of its physical health; for its men¬ 
tal development; for its intellectual training: 
for its moral character and for its religious 
training and culture. 

The best gift, the most precious thing God 
ever gave to man is the gift of a bright, healthy 
child, and yet, notwithstanding this fact, there 
are parents who would more highly appreciate 
something else of far less value. The coming 
of a little child into the home is as though God 
had opened some window of heaven and had 
sent into that home something out of His own 
life. It is a new incarnation and becomes the 
third person in a human trinity, binding the 
husband and wife more closely together than 
any other human event can possibly unite them. 
It is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, 
a new edition of themselves. 


The Home Maker. 


133 


In order to meet your responsibilities, keep 
close to the children. Never let them get away 
from you. Never allow yourself to lose your 
patience in your treatment of them. Never 
punish one of them just because he was 
naughty, but when discipline must be adminis¬ 
tered be sure to administer it in love. Have 
but one thought in mind, the good of the child, 
and let your correction be so administered as 
to appeal to the child’s sense of right. 

Spare no pains to answer the child’s ques¬ 
tions patiently and thoughtfully, and be sure 
your child understands your meaning. Culth 
vate the closest intimacy with your children. 
Make them your companions. Engage them in 
conversation as soon as they are old enough to 
understand about the things you want them to 
know. Keep evil things out of their minds by 
preempting it for the things that are good and 
helpful. They are going out into the world to 
be tempted and enticed by the same seductive 
and evil influences that have lured so many 
from the path of rectitude, and their salvation 
will depend more largely than upon anything 
else on the home influences which surrcund 
them in the days of their childhood. 

A beautiful illustration of how the home in¬ 
fluence will survive all the vicissitudes of life 
and hold one steady on his way, is shown in the 
life of Henry W. Grady, who bears the proud 
distinction of being “the Builder of the New 
South”, who, though a great man of affairs 


134 


Men'Wanted. 


and c f national reputation, was wont ferquent- 
ly to turn aside from business cares and from 
the lure of social functions and retire to the 
quiet of his childhood home to spend a while 
with his mother amid the scenes of his early 
life. 

On these occasions his days were usually 
spent visiting among the friends of other days 
and the scenes that were familiar to him during 
his boyhood, and when the day was closing he 
wc uld sit down with his mother in the quiet of 
her home and they would spend the evening 
hour in a real, loving, heart-to-heart talk, in 
which the life and experiences of years gone by 
were rehearsed. When bedtime came, he would 
kneel down at his mother’s knee and, just as he 
had so often done in his childhood, repeat his 
evening prayer before retiring for the night. 
Beautiful thought: Home and Religion, God 
and Mother. 

Of all the beautiful scenes on earth there is 
nothing that appeals so tenderly and irresista- 
bly to the human heart as the devotion of a hus¬ 
band and wife who have lived happily together 
through a long life, when the day of business 
care is past and the children have all married 
and have set up homes for themselves; to see 
this husband and wife in the twilight hour of 
life, just “waiting ’till the shadows are a little 
longer grown;” happy in the enjoyment of 
their home and friends, and confident in antici¬ 
pation of a future life that is to be the glad 


The Home Maker. 


135 


fruition of their highest hope and the comple¬ 
ment of their present joy and satisfaction. 
Noting short of the bliss of heaven itself can 
equal such companionship. 

What the evening hours of a happy married 
life may be when the mellowing influences of 
time and the alternation of sunshine and 
shadow have all combined to perfect the ripen¬ 
ed fruits of unselfish love and devotion, has 
been very fittingly expressed as follows:— 


“It is very comfortin’ 

When your hair is gettin’ thin 

And crow feet in your eyes, have come to stay, 

Just to feel her little hand 
Smoothin’ back each silver strand, 

While you meet her lovin’ look and hear her say: 
‘My dear, it seems as tho’ 

Every year you live you grow 
Handsomer than in the olden days.’ 

Then you look up at your wife, 

And you think in all your life, 

You never heard a sweeter word of praise. 

“But the teardrops will arise 
To your dim old fadin’ eyes, 

And you kiss the gentle hand, still white and small, 
While you try to tell her how 
You loved her then—love her now, 

But, bless me, if the words will come at all; 

For just then there comes to you 

The trials she’s gone through 

And borne without a murmur for your sake; 

You can only bow your head 
At the lovin’ things she’s said. 

While your poor old heart will only ache and ache. 


“But she knows what ails you then, 

And she kisses you again. 

While you hear her gently whisper, sweet and low, 


136 


Men Wanted 


‘Life has brought more hopes than fears, 

We have known more smiles than tears, 

And the years seem ever brighter as they go.’ 

Yes, ’tis comfortin’, you know, 

When your step is gettin’ slow 

And you’re slidin’ down life’s hill a’mighty fast, 

Just to feel her little hand 

Smoothin’ back each silver strand, 

While she tells you that she’ll love you to the last." 


Business Ethics. 


“Be not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord St. Paul. 

“Be thou diligent to know the state of thy 
flock, and look well to thy herds. yy Solomon. 

“Any business which cannot be consecrated 
to Christ and done in His name must be aban¬ 
doned, or Heaven ivill be lost. yy Foster. 


Standing in front of a fruit packing estab¬ 
lishment one day, I saw what I was told was a 
culling machine. It was made in the form of a 
trough or open box, perhaps two feet wide and 
eight or ten feet long, one end of it being ele¬ 
vated above the other, so that fruit poured into 
it at the upper end would naturally gravitate 
to the lower end. The bottom of this machine 
was made of rolls placed horizontally and run¬ 
ning lengthwise in the machine. These rolls 
were operated by a treadle, which a man worked 
with his foot. I noticed the rolls in the upper 
end of the machine were closer together than 
they were in the lower part. 

Being a bit curious to see how it would work 
and observing a man preparing to start it go¬ 
ing, I watched the process. He emptied a bas¬ 
ket of fruit into the upper end of the machine, 
and as soon as he began working the pedals I 
saw the fruit falling through into some has- 




138 


Men Wanted. 


kets he had placed under the rolls. Into the 
first of these baskets dropped the smallest of 
the fruit; into the next, fruit a little larger, 
and so on until at the lower end of the machine, 
where the rolls were the farthest apart, the 
largest of the fruit fell into a basket by itself. 

Such is the culling process that is going on 
in the industrial and commercial world today. 
A man’s business life is limited to fifty years, 
from twenty to seventy. The first twenty years, 
or from twenty to forty, he is in demand—all 
doors are open to him. From forty to sixty he 
is acceptable. From sixty to seventy he is en¬ 
dured, provided he makes good; but at seventy 
he must retire and get out of the way of the 
young man. So it is imperative that the pro¬ 
verbial “rainy day” be kept in mind and pro¬ 
vided for during the hey day of life. 

Joseph Cook has said that any man who has 
lived forty-five years and has not laid by 
enough to keep him comfortable for the remain¬ 
der of his life is a failure. We may not agree 
with Mr. Cook, but it is safe to say that the man 
who is fifty years old and has not placed him¬ 
self in such position and circumstances that he 
can take care of himself and those dependent 
upon him for support, without the charitable 
assistance of others, has made a great mistake 
sometime in his previous business life. 

It is essential that a business career, like 
every material superstructure, shall rest on a 
good and reliable foundation, for no building of 


Business Ethics. 139 

any sort is any stronger than the weakest spot 
in the foundation on which it rests. 

In one of the great grain shipping centers 

of the country there was erected a mammoth 

%/ 

grain elevator, constructed of re-inforced con¬ 
crete, having a capacity of a million bushels, 
and estimated to weigh twenty thousand tons. 
A mammoth building indeed, and, by its build¬ 
ers and owners, considered perfectly safe and 
trustworthy; but because the builders had not 
dug deep enough to find reliable and solid sup¬ 
port for the foundation, one side of the super¬ 
structure settled until it was in danger of top¬ 
pling over, and it was only by the most heroic 
effort that it was finally righted and saved from 
utter ruin. 

Very many of the business failures of today 
occur because there was something wrong at 
the foundation. Something of importance was 
neglected at the start. Something that ought 
to have been put in was left out, or something 
that should have been left out was put in. There 
are some essentials a man must regard if he is 
to succeed in business, and there are some non- 
essentials that are so prejudicial that he is fore¬ 
doomed if he allows them to come in. 

The Sub-Foundation. 

Take God with you into your business. In 
all matters of great importance, men usually 
seek advice. God is the best possible counsellor, 
and He gives advice most freely. You may 


140 


Men Wanted. 


find everything relating to honest business in 
the Bible. Maybe you will say “I am not a 
Christian.” Then you are not what you ought 
to be. We talk of religion and business as 
though they were so far separated as to be 
entirely unlike and unrelated to each other. 
But religion is business. There is nothing a 
man undertakes that is more of a business mat¬ 
ter than becoming a Christian, and of all busi¬ 
ness matters it is the most important. The 
Scriptures constantly appeal to man’s business 
sense, and promise success and all necessary 
good to him who follows the divine counsel. 
This does not necessarily imply that he will 
amass great wealth. Success is not limited to 
that. True success cannot be expressed in dol¬ 
lars and cents. There are some investments 
that do not return large dividends but that do 
accumulate great surplus funds. What is 
known as 44 gilt edged” securities do not, as a 
rule, pay high rates of interest or large divi¬ 
dends; but they are regarded as safe, because 
they are known to be judiciously and prudently 
managed, and hence are most desirable. 

The man who ignores God in his business, or 
engages in business on which he cannot con¬ 
sistently ask God’s blessing, takes a great risk 
and is heading toward disaster and loss. He 
may, God may permit him to, win a degree of 
financial success, but instances are rare, indeed, 
in which wealth gathered by unrighteous 
means has been a blessing to him who amassed 


Business Ethics. 141 

it or remained very long in the possession of his 
children. 

It is a mistake to engage in any business to 
which any suspicion of unrighteousness is at¬ 
tached. Clean business, when pursued with 
honest and industrious effort, will be blessed 
of God. The honest, God-fearing man lias 
nothing to dread, but everything to hope for— 
he has placed his cause in the hands of Him 
who rules the destinies of the world. There 
will be times when there will arise crises in his 
cereer, when the outlook will seem dark and un¬ 
certain; but light will come and with it there 
will come to him success, if he will only trust 
God and do his duty, for “The steps of a good 
man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth 
in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be ut¬ 
terly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him 
with his hand.” 

A Christian man of my acquaintance, who 
was a good business man but who Avas handi- 
copped by circumstances beyond his control, 
finally determined to “go west” and try his 
fortune there. He Avent to Colorado, Avhere he 
engaged in business, prospered and became 
wealthy. 

In speaking of his experience during one of 
his visits back east he said, “The prospect 
looked mighty dark for a AAdiile. Every effort 
I made to get into business failed. Every door 
seemed shut against me, saA^e the door of pray¬ 
er to God. KnoAving that was open, I took my 


142 


Men Wanted. 


case to the Lord and promised Him that if He 
would open the way for me into some profit¬ 
able employment I would make the best pos¬ 
sible use of my opportunity and give one-tenth 
of all I made to religious and charitable enter¬ 
prises.’’ 

“That prayer I offered for nine mornings 
and every door remained closed, but on the 
tenth morning I had not more than gone out 
from the room where I had prayed until what 
seemed a trifling incident proved to be the open¬ 
ing of the door where God was waiting to an¬ 
swer my prayer. I entered, and since that 
morning in everything I have undertaken the 
Lord has prospered me.” 

“But, said a friend, “how about the tithes? 
Have you kept your promise? Have you given 
the full tenth?” 

“Yes”, he replied, “absolutely and relig¬ 
iously.” 

«/ 

Business Integrity. 

“Honesty is the best policy” is a saying that 
is venerable with age, and it is as true as the 
Gospel. In the mad rush and scramble for 
wealth that characterizes the business world to¬ 
day, this is too often forgotten or ignored by 
men whose only object is to gather wealth with¬ 
out regard as to the means they employ. But 
on one thing the whole business world agrees 
today and that is, all successful business enter¬ 
prises must rest upon business integrity. 


Business Ethics. 


143 


Between the business man and his patrons 
there should be the utmost candor in all their 
dealings. A merchant sells his wares to his 
friends and not to his enemies; to those who be¬ 
lieve in him and not to those who doubt his 
moral or business integrity. Goods are sold 
very largely by the trade-mark of the manu¬ 
facturer, and an article which bears the trade¬ 
mark of a manufacturer who always maintains 
the standard .of his goods will always sell and 
'will command a much better price than other 
wares of the same sort that lack the guarantee 
of a reliable maker, even though the latter may 
be equally good in quality. The trade-mark 
represents not alone the article upon which it 
is placed, but also the manufacturer who puts 
it out. 

Success in business lies in satisfying the peo¬ 
ple to whom you sell goods, or by whom you are 
employed to do business. You may deceive a 
patron once, but the probability is that he will 
not let you do it a second time. P. T. Barnum 
said, “The American people like to lie fooled”, 
but Mr. Lincoln expressed the truth when he 
said, “You can’t fool the people all the time.” 

Too many regard business, merely, as a 
means of making money. They see only its 
commercial side. But the correct idea of doing 
business is not simply to gain money for mon¬ 
ey’s sake, but, rather for the sake of having 
more money with which to do business and the 
ability it gives one to be of use to his fellow 


144 


Men Wanted. 


man. We are here to do business for God and 
humanity and not for self alone. We are really 
only stewards and not proprietors. Everything 
we call our own is nothing more than a trust, 
for which we must finally render an account. 
Even the money we gain does not really be¬ 
long to us, but to the Government, whose stamp 
and seal it bears. We may use it while it is in 
our possession, but we dare not mutilate or de¬ 
stroy it. How important then that a business 
man shall by all means maintain his moral and 
business integrity, both as it relates to his God 
and to his fellow man! 

The most important part of a ship is that 
which is under water. The armor plate on a 
battleship stops at or a little below the water¬ 
line ; but the introduction of the submarine into 
naval warfare has very materially discounted 
the value of our dreadnaughts and superdread- 
naughts, because the submarine “ strikes below 
the belt”, hits where the ship is most vulner¬ 
able. The seas of trade and commerce are in¬ 
fested with submarines, too, and there is no 
point at which they can attack a business man 
with such deadly effect as a lack of business in¬ 
tegrity. 

When there seems to be a reasonable ground 
for suspicion that a man is not strictly honest 
and trustworthy in all his business transactions, 
he loses his best business asset, the confidence 
of his customers, without which no man can 
succeed. But if all those who know him best 


Business Ethics. 


145 


know his business methods to be commendable; 
if he has proven himself worthy of their con¬ 
fidence; if he has been honest where he might 
have been dishonest without the probability of 
being apprehended and punished, nothing that 
is formed against him will prosper; but all as¬ 
saults prompted by envy or jealousy will sim¬ 
ply inure to his profit by binding his friends 
more firmly to him. 

Preparedness, Efficiency, Conservation. 

Preparedness is the surest guarantee against 
surprise and consequent disaster in times of 
great and unexpected crises. A man is no 
greater than his ability to master adverse con¬ 
ditions on the spot as he meets them. The day 
has passed when a man could do business in a 
haphazard way and succeed. All business has 
been reduced to a scientific basis. The busi¬ 
ness college is as essential as the grammar 
school in our modern commercial life, and a 
man simply invites failure when he undertakes 
a business career without business training. A 
business man ought to know everything per¬ 
taining to his business, not necessarily every 
detail at once, but everything that is funda¬ 
mental, and the details will adjust themselves 
in the orderly routine of business. 

The prepared man knows, he doesn’t guess. 
Two men started out to find the North Pole, Dr. 
Frederick A. Cook and Commander Robert E. 
Peary. Dr. Cook returned first and reported 


146 


M ex Wanted. 


he had been to the Pole, and no doubt he thought 
he had; but Peary denied Cook’s claim and de¬ 
manded that he produce satisfactory proof of 
his having reached the Pole. Then followed a 
controversy which was worldwide and often ac¬ 
rimonious and bitter. Both men submitted 
their data for inspection, with the result that, 
although Dr. Cook’s sincerity was admitted, 
his data proved insufficient to establish his 
claim, while Peary’s claim was by his proofs 
fully established, and Peary is now the acknowl¬ 
edged discoverer, while Dr. Cook stands dis¬ 
credited as an Artie explorer. In the great 
life battle. Guess work will not do: accuracy is 
the test every where. 

In times of uncertainty, when business is 

hesitating and men become anxious as to the 

future, the public waits for the men to speak 

who are supposed to know, and their word 

has much to do with determining subsequent 

events. James J. Hill had a talk one dav with 

•/ 

President Taft, in which he prophesied busi¬ 
ness stagnation, idle factories and times of 
panic. The newspapers published what Mr. 
Hill had said and the calamity howlers re¬ 
marked “I told you so”, Wall Street shuddered 
and securities tumbled, all because Mr. Hill 
had expressed a pessimistic opinion. A thou¬ 
sand other men who were supposed to know 
• less about the general business conditions of 
the country might have said the same thing 
Mr. Hill did, and the public would have laughed 


Business Ethics. 147 

good-naturedly and said, “Ah, well, I reckon 
one man’s guess is as good as another’s.” 

The world expects more of the man who suc¬ 
ceeds than of the man who does not, and that 
in proportion to the success he gains. The more 
business he does, the more he will have to do. 
The doctor who is recognized as the best physi¬ 
cian in town will get the worst cases there are 
to be treated. The lawyer who has the reputa¬ 
tion of knowing most about law, and who can 
best impress the court or the jury, will have the 
refusal, at least, of the most knotty cases in 
chancery. This is the lesson of our Lord’s par¬ 
able of the pounds: the man who had failed to 
improve the one pound he had received was de¬ 
prived of the pound he had and saw it pass to 
the man who had ten pounds because he had 
used well his trust. Success means larger op¬ 
portunity, greater ability and a broader world 
in which to live. 

They are the prepared men who come to the 
front in all crises, whether it be in financial, 
religious or political affairs. 

In 1863 our Government was sorely pressed 
to obtain money with which to finance the war, 
which was then draining every resource of the 
nation. It was the darkest hour of that awful 
tragedy. The financiers of the country hesi¬ 
tated to take the bonds the Government offered, 
and the question was, where can there be found 
a man who can float a loan of sufficient magni¬ 
tude to furnish the necessary funds for the sue- 


148 


M en Wanted. 


cessful prosecution of the war for the Union! 
In his extremity, Secretary Chase turned to 
Jay Cooke, of Philadelphia, and asked him to 
undertake the task. It was a herculean task, 
involving, first and last, more than $2,000,000,- 
000.00, but Cooke proved himself equal to it by 
bringing it to a successful termination. Of the 
great service rendered by Cooke, General Grant 
said, “To his labors, more than to those of any 
other man, the people of this country owe the 
continued life of the nation.” Cooke was pre¬ 
pared, and the nation’s extremity was his op¬ 
portunity. 

Efficiency. 

The efficient man is the man who can and 
does produce results, the man who makes good, 
who brings things to pass. Measured by the 
standard of the men who have attained the 
greatest degree of success in the mercantile 
business, statisticians tell us that only one in 
10,000 succeeds; but that does not mean that 
9,999 have failed. They are simply like the 
yacht in the regatta that crosses the line at the 
home stake a few seconds behind the winning 
yacht. They have made a good run and, but 
for the fact that they fell short by comparison, 
their speed would have been regarded as very 
satisfactory. 

A. T. Stewart, of New York, was one of the 
winners in the mercantile race. He began busi¬ 
ness in rather a modest way in 1825, and when 


Business Ethics. 


149 


he died, in 1876, his biographer tells us “he 
was doing a business that amounted to fifty 
thousand dollars a day.” The business was so 
organized and the management so distributed 
that one might have thought Mr. Stewart’s 
presence was not really a necessity, that the 
business could go on successfully without his 
personal supervision; but that such was not the 
case was shown by the fact that, though he left 
an estate of, approximately, forty million of 
dollars, in ten years the business was wrecked 
and lost by the mismanagement of men who 
ought to have added other millions to it. Forty 
millions of dollars lost just for lack of an ef¬ 
ficient man to manage it! 

Scientific and mechanical inventions make 
trade expansion not only possible but impera¬ 
tive. The discovery and manufacture of gaso- 
line made the automobile a possibility. The 
converting of our western prairies into vast 
wheat fields made the iron harvester a necessity. 
The demand for greater facilities for inter¬ 
course between separate localities led to the in¬ 
vention of the telephone. Each and all of them 
have become accessories of expanding business 
and so business broadens, continually growing 
more intense and strenuous; and a man must 
either keep pace with the spirit of the times, 
adapt himself to the new order of things, or re¬ 
tire to the swamp. What would one think of a 
man who would undertake to run a line of 
stage-coaches from Philadelphia to New York, 


150 


Men Wanted. 


in opposition to the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company with its fast express trains? The old 
“prairie schooner” was all right a hundred 
years ago, but it is too slow for the Twentieth 
Century. 

Psychologists tell us that every mental exer¬ 
cise is followed by some physical effect or mani¬ 
festation. Re it so or not, we know that the 
men who think seriously over and through the 
great business problems are the men who suc¬ 
ceed in their undertakings. They are not 
dreamers. You will frequently hear it said of 
some one who has succeeded in business, “he is 
a child of fortune”, or, “circumstances made 
him”, but it is not true. Circumstances never 
made any man. They have helped very many, 
but they were the men who were ready to profit 
by the favorable circumstance offered them who 
have succeeded. A handicap is a good thing 
for a man sometimes—opposition only helps to 
bring out the ability a man has. The figures on 
the beautiful hand-decorated china can only bo 
set by passing through the fire. When a man 
has gone through the fire test, we know what 
sort of stuff he is made of. 

Ideal circumstances are not necessary for the 
development of either moral character or finan¬ 
cial ability. There can be found no more enter¬ 
prising, thrifty or happy people on earth than 
the Scots, whose soil is rocky and sterile and 
whose climate is rigorous and severe; nor can 
any such lazy, improvident, “ne’er-to-do-well” 


151 


Business Ethics. 

people be found anywhere else as the cock- 
fighting, bull-baiting inhabitants of the tropic. 

The history of our own country revealing the 
comparative wealth of the States prior to the 

Civil War, when the institution of slavery held 

* •/ 

the beautiful Southland in its fateful grasp, 
when Massachusetts with its cold climate and 
unresponsive soil equalled in wealth more than 
half a dozen of the Southern States with their 
fertile soil and unsurpassed climatic condi¬ 
tions, shows that the secret of success iies not 
in environment, but in the indomitable spirit 
that can succeed in spite of an environment that 
is unfriendly, even hostile. 

Business Rules. 

Nothing is more essential to business success 
than rules which are always to be observed. 
When George W. Childs was publishing the 
“Public Ledger’’ in Philadelphia, he was not 
less known for his benevolent and charitable 
disposition than as an able editor. Two women 
who represented one of the charitable institu¬ 
tions of the city went one day to the Ledger 
office with a notice they wished to have inserted 
in the paper, asking assistance for their so¬ 
ciety. They expected to get it published free 
of charge, but the clerk to whom they presented 
their “copy” informed them they must pay one 
dollar for it; and when they demurred, saying 
they thought Mr. Childs would make no charge, 
the clerk referred them to Mr. Childs and show- 


152 


Men Wanted. 


ed them into his private office. They stated 
their case to him and inquired if he would not 
print the notice free of charge, to which Mr. 
Childs replied, “No, ladies, that notice will 
cost you one dollar, if it goes in the Ledger.” 
Beluctantly, one of them laid down the required 
dollar, together with the notice, and they turned 
to withdraw, when Mr. Childs took from his 
pocket a live dollar note and handed it to them 
saying, “Ladies, here is a donation for your 
society. I am very glad to help you, but we 
never mix business with charity in this office.” 

If you are conducting business on your own 
account have rules for the government of the 
business and insist upon enforcing them. If 
you are employed by another, scrupulously 
avoid breaking any of the rules of your em¬ 
ployer. “Obey orders if you break owners.” 
It is yours to obey without asking why: the con¬ 
sequences are his. 

Safety Valve and Governor. 

Two very important parts of a steam engine 
are the safety valve and the governor. The 
safety valve allows the surplus steam to escape, 
thus avoiding the danger of an explosion. The 
governor regulates the gait or speed of running, 
making it smooth and even. If the pressure is 
light, it opens the valve and lets in the full 
strength. If the pressure gets too high, it closes 
down the valve and prevents over-running. 


Business Ethics. 


153 


Business efficiency requires that} perfect 
poise, steady-going, self possession which 
avoids the friction that wears out the machin¬ 
ery, and at the same time never loses its head 
in being carried away by any sudden impulse. 
If trade conditions are unfavorable, get a tight 
grip on your business affairs and hold on for a 
favorable turn. 

Accept conditions as you meet them, make 
them bend to your purpose and never let others 
know you are fighting head winds. Never ad¬ 
vertise your troubles, but meet the world every 
day with a smile and with manly courage. There 
is excellent philosophy in that homely proverb: 
“When everything goes wrong, keep a stiff up¬ 
per lip, and whistle when you go through a 
graveyard. ’’ 

Conservation. 

This determines a man’s success so far as 
material resources can indicate it. The man 
who lives up to his income, be his business ca¬ 
reer long or short, quits just where he began. 
No man can succeed in business who does not 
conserve his resources. The history of every 
business man shows the wisdom of Franklin’s 
rule, “Take care of the pennies and the dollars 
will take care of themselves.” The beautiful 
deltas at the mouths of the great rivers of the 
world have been formed by the vagrant sands 
that were swept along by the tides and deposit¬ 
ed there. So, also, have the great fortunes of 


154 


Men Wanted. 


the world been accumulated by the conservation 

m/ 

of business profits. 

The difference between the man who succeeds 
and the man who fails is not always the differ¬ 
ence between the man who works and the lazy, 
indolent laggard; but it is, perhaps, more fre¬ 
quently the differences between the man who 
conserves his resources and the careless, im¬ 
provident spendthrift who wastes his substance. 

There is no necessity for any man who makes 
good in his calling to work for a salary that 
will not allow a margin for a savings account, 
which, if judiciously invested, will increase un¬ 
til it will enable him to start in business on his 
own account. 

Nothing that returns no profit is worth while. 
The life of a business man is too short to be 
frittered away in improvident living, or in be¬ 
ing a mere machine that wears itself out and 
then goes to the junk heap. The plans adopted 
by the large business concerns of the country of 
retiring and pensioning their employees at the 
age of seventy is a confession of one of two 
evils: either the employer has not paid the em¬ 
ployee a living wage so that he could save 
enough during the time of his efficiency to make 
him comfortable when he is retired, or else the 
employee has not exercised good business sense 
in the use and management of his affairs. 
Either horn of the dilemma leads to a rather un¬ 
pleasant conclusion. If we take the first, it 
implies injustice on the part of the employer; 


Business Ethics. 155 

and, if the second, it impeaches the business 
capability of the laboring man. 

One of the sins of the American people is 
living* too fast. Everybody knows you can’t 
get a thousand dollar living out of a five hun¬ 
dred dollar salary. The trouble is that there is 
a disposition to live according to the fashion of 
the times, trusting to some good fortune to help 
one meet a possible deficit. Any man invites 
disaster who allows his expenses to exceed nis 
income, and he is heading toward poverty in 
his old age who does not husband his resources 
in the day of his strength. 

Every sea-faring man knows there is great 
danger in “carrying too much sail” with a fair 
wind. It may seem delightful to watch the ship 
plough her way through the brine under the 
pressure of her canvass; but if the wind shall 
“over blow” her and it shall become necessary 
to “heave to”, as it frequently does to avoid 
foundering, the probability is that in doing so 
the seas will sweep her decks and no one can 
guess what damage will result. This is just as 
true in business management as it is in sailing 
a ship. 

There are three things pertaining to the out¬ 
fit of a ship without which no shipmaster will 
attempt to cross the ocean, a compass, a chron¬ 
ometer and a barometer. The compass is his 
guide when out of sight of land. The chrono¬ 
meter and the log-line tell him of his location 
when storms prevent him from getting an “oh- 


156 


Men Wanted. 


servation”, and the barometer will warn him of 
coming* storms when there is as yet no visible 
signs of them in the heavens. The business man 
should have his compass, established and reli¬ 
able business rules; a chronometer, careful sup¬ 
ervision that keeps him in touch with his true 
financial condition; and the barometer is al¬ 
ways hung out before him, if he will take the 
pains to read it. If there is a storm coming in 
the commercial or industrial world, the signs 
are always in the heavens, if he will look for 
them. 

Some years ago when business in this country 
was booming, one of the big business men who 
kept in touch with world-wide conditions of 
trade became convinced, in reading the business 
barometer, that there was coming a period of 
business stagnation, perhaps, business panic. 
In his strong box he already had more than a 
million dollars in cash and good securities aside 
from his working capital, but, fearing that 
might not be sufficient to see him through, he 
went out and borrowed a million more and put 
it away. Some of his competitors, learning of 
what he had done, laughed at his fears, saying, 
“Why, business was never better than it is 
now. What ails him?” 

But the next year the storm broke. The busi¬ 
ness panic came and it blanketed the whole 
country. Business houses by the hundreds 
went to the wall. Banks and trust companies 
all over the land closed their doors, but with 


Business Ethics. 


157 


him there was no suspension of business, no 
panic, for he had shortened sail when the busi¬ 
ness barometer indicated the coming* storm. 
Then, keep your eye on the barometer. Look 
well to the details of business. Acquaint your¬ 
self with the commercial and industrial affairs 
of the world and take no foolish risks. 

The life of the spendthrift is most graphi¬ 
cally described by our Lord in the parable of 
the Prodigal Son. Here is a young man who 
evidently had a fair start in life, but who made 
poor use of his opportunity. How he readied 
the far country we do not know, for the details 
of his journey are not given, but we are not 
concerned as to that. There are just two things 
in his case that claim our attention and the 
first one is, that he “ wasted his substance with 
riotous living”, not with right living. He was 
having a 4 ‘good time” but was not keeping tab 
on his expenses. He was heading all the while 
toward bankruptcy and the life of a tramp. The 
second thing we notice is, that “when he had 
spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the 
land, and he began to be in want.” How 
strange for him to be in want, and in a distant 
country where there was a famine! And who 
made the famine? Why, this young man, him¬ 
self, made the famine when he was wasting his 
substance. There is a famine in this land of 
plenty today for the hungry tramp who comes 
to your kitchen door begging for a breakfast. 
Every man makes for himself either a land of 


158 


Men Wanted. 


plenty or a land of famine, just as he chooses. 

What can the man expect who is continually 
wasting his substance and producing nothing 
but that he will find a famine some time? What 
else can a business man expect who disregards 
the rules of prudence and recklessly misman¬ 
ages his business affairs? To all such the fam¬ 
ine ought to come, and it will come. 

Make to yourselves all the friends possible 
of the neople whose friendship is worth having, 
but do not depend on them. Ask no favors of 
any person in any matter that you can possibly 
manage alone, while, at the same time, stand 
ready to help any one in need of a friend. Do 
a safe business, and do not worry about what 
Dunn or Bradstreet may or may not say about 
you. The man who makes good will have all 
the credit his business will require. 

Trust Providence, but not to do your part of 
the business. God will do His part and He will 
never fail you when you have done yours, but 
He will never work a miracle to excuse your in¬ 
difference or your laziness. Do your best, first 
of all, by way of preparation. Inform your¬ 
self fully as to the fundamental principles of 
business. Get information from every avail¬ 
able source. Study business literature, talk 
with successful business men and acquaint your¬ 
self thoroughly with everything pertaining to 
your business: then, seeking the highest effcien- 
cy and conserving your resources, push busi¬ 
ness and trust God for results. 


Wrecks. 


“There is a way that seemeth right unto a 
man, but the end thereof are the ways of 
death.” Solomon. 

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the - 
Lord, and he delightet-h in his way. 

Though he fall , he shall not be utterly cast 
down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his 
hand.” David. 

“A ship that has been driven by wave and 
tempest far up on the beach, where no tide can 
ever come to lift her off, but that lies there high 
and dry, seams gaping, sails rotting, spars fall¬ 
ing, hated of earth, and driven' out from the 
water, is not half so pitiable an object as a great 
man who has been carried out of the deep chan¬ 
nels of honor, and lies all awreck on the shore of 
good men y s opinions.” 

Henry Ward Beecher. 


The course of a human life has often been 
compared to a voyage on the sea; and the anal¬ 
ogy holds good in several respects. Like the 
mariner we must proceed under a variety of 
conditions and circumstances. Sometimes the 
conditions are most favorable and we sail on 
and on under clear skies and with favoring 




160 


Men Wanted. 


winds, and all goes pleasantly with us. Then all 
is changed: the sky is overcast with clouds; the 
winds are ahead; the waves buffet us; the storm 
beats upon us, and dangers, seen and unseen, 
threaten us. 

A young man going out to make his way 
through the world knows there are dangers that 
lie in his way, and there are just two courses 
open to him; either he must studiously avoid 
the dangers or risk contact with them. He may 
think himself sufficiently strong to meet and re¬ 
sist the evil influences, but let him remember 
that “one cannot handle coals without getting 
his fingers soiled”, neither can a young man 
tamper with the things that soil morally and 
keep his mind and soul pure and clean. 

This life-sea on which we sail is strewn with 
wrecks, some of which have been driven on a 
lee-shore, broken and wrecked beyong the pos¬ 
sibility of recovery. Others we may designate 
as derelicts: crafts which, though wrecked and 
abandoned, are still afloat; mere drift stuff on 
the sea, the sport of winds and waves; not only 
of no use, but an actual menace to other crafts 
which may be wrecked by coming in contact 
with them. 

Sometimes the derelict is brought into port 
and repaired; but it can never be made what 
it was originally. It can never be fully re¬ 
stored. And this is just as true of a human 
wreck as it is of any material building of any 
sort. It is true of the physical and the moral 


Wrecks. 


161 


nature alike. Physical energies once seriously 
impaired rarely if ever quite recover their form¬ 
er strength and ability; and anything that 
blunts the moral sensibilities rendering them 
obtuse and callous is, to a greater or less degree 
permanent in its effect; and even though the 
derelict may, through some spiritual process of 
“overhauling”, reform and seek to lead a vir¬ 
tuous life; in the great majority of cases the 
sins of the past come back to harass the life, 
and to hinder the work of reformation; and not 
unfrequently a long and stubborn fight with 
them ends in failure. 

It may be taken for granted the great major¬ 
ity of wrecks that occur result from a neglect of 
or indifference to the requirements growing 
out of the conditions under which we live. Cer¬ 
tainly no one in his right mind would be so 
foolish as to start out with the deliberate pur¬ 
pose to wreck himself; but the neglect of or in¬ 
difference to the essentials of right living will 
be just as fatal in its final results physically, 
morally and spiritually, as though one had de¬ 
liberately planned and persistently executed 
the tragedy of his own destruction. The moun¬ 
tain climber who loses his way and perishes in 
the pitiless blizzard, dies just as certainly as 
the man who, with the purpose of ending a life 
that is no longer endurable, takes a plunge into 
the dark river at midnight or fires the fatal 
bullet into his frenzied brain. 


162 


Men Wanted. 

Submerged Rocks of Offense. 

A great steamship started out from an Eng¬ 
lish port bound for New York, with, approxi¬ 
mately, three thousand souls on board. She 
was a perfect Leviathan in size and was con¬ 
sidered unsinkable. She was several years in 
building, and cost $10,000,000. She combined 
in herself the ingenuity and strength that re¬ 
presented the highest development of the ship¬ 
builders art. All this combined to render those 
who sailed on her indifferent to the dangers of 
travel by sea. When about to sail the captain 
said: “I cannot conceive of any vital disaster 
overtaking this vessel. Modern ship-building 
has gone beyond that.” 

No doubt every passenger who sailed on that 
ship shared the confidence expressed by the cap¬ 
tain, and as she swept majestically over the 
ocean, perhaps that confidence increased. But 
in her pathway there lay the menacing iceberg, 
ordinarily so dreaded by the navigator; but 
disdained and regarded with contempt by the 
captain of this vessel, who thought his boat too 
strong to be seriously injured by contact with it. 

But in the darkness of the night she came in 
contact with one of these sea terrors, and that 
ship which was supposed to be an absolutely 
safe ship; an unsinkable ship, proved to be only 
a plaything for the remorseless elements and a 
death-trap to those who had sailed on her; and 


Wrecks. 163 

fifteen hundred of her passengers and crew 
perished in the icy waters. 

When some such catastrophe as this occurs 
people frequently ask why this disaster? Why 
all this loss of life? Why did not God prevent 
it? as though men might be as indifferent to 
essential conditions as they please and expect 
God to miraculously save them from the danger 
they invite by their recklessness. The disaster 
is a matter with which God has nothing what¬ 
ever to do. He simply permits the captain to 
navigate his vessel as he pleases, and if the 
captain runs his ship on an iceberg he alone, 
and not God, is responsible for the conse¬ 
quences. 

God’s providential care is always exercised 
consistently with man’s free agency. If a man 
commits his way unto the Lord; seeks his guid¬ 
ance and protection, the promise of God is: 
“Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in 
him; and he shall bring it to pass.” But if a 
man ignores God and trusts in his own self- 
sufficiency; then whatever disaster may result 
from his mistakes must not be charged up to 
God’s account. 

When we see so much of evil in the world 
and so much suffering on account of it, we some¬ 
times wonder why God permits it all. We say if 
we could we would prevent it all, but we cannot; 
we have not the power. God could prevent it 
but he will not. And why? Because man’s free- 
agency entitles him to the privilege of doing 


164 


Men Wanted. 


just as lie may choose. If he will ignore the 
laws of health and thereby weaken and destroy 
his body, God will let him. If he will violate the 
laws of God and set at naught all his counsel, 
and pursue a sinful course until he loses his 
soul, the consequences are his and his alone. 

The mariner knows that certain sections of 
the ocean are infested with icebergs and this 
knowledge, together with the uncertainty of 
their location, renders the duty of watchfulness 
imperative. The charted rock or sand-bar is 
easily avoided and collision with them is inex¬ 
cusable, but no chart can designate the position 
of an iceberg. No light house or bell buoy can 
indicate its whereabouts. It sneaks unseen 
across the path of the navigator, and with its 
icy fingers punches the plates of steel or crum¬ 
ples them up as just so much cardboard. And 
so, vigilance is an ever present duty lest the 
navigator run his vessel upon one of these 
floating terrors and lose his vessel and his life. 

And this vigilance is rendered most import¬ 
ant because icebergs are not always easily de¬ 
tected; as they float they are from two thirds 
to three fourths under water, and may appear 
on the surface of the sea as a small thing that 
might be easily brushed aside by the ship, while 
they are in reality a deadly peril. A careful 
watch must be kept during the day and the 
searchlight must be constantly peering into the 
darkness during the night. Failure in this 
would indeed be criminal neglect. 


Wrecks. 


165 


Remembering- that, like the submerged ice¬ 
berg, the rocks of offense on which most men 
who go astray are wrecked are hidden, out of 
sight, concealed under the glamour of some sen¬ 
sual enjoyment or social allowance; one must be 
constantly on his guard against the seductive 
influence of the evils that wear the garb of re¬ 
spectability through the favor and patronage 
of some social nabobs—must keep the search¬ 
light blazing the way ahead. The social glass 
of wine or the game of cards ‘ 4 just for past¬ 
time,” and numerous other amusements of 
similar sort, have frequently proved to be the 
submerged rock on which many a noble life has 
been wrecked. A pastime that in itself may be 
harmless may by frequent indulgence lead to 
waste of precious time, to evil associations, or 
to vicious habits. The only safe attitude a 
young man can assume toward any questionable 
indulgence is ‘‘touch not, taste not, handle not”. 
It may not be very wrong to do the thing, but it 
certainly cannot be wrong not to do anything 
that is of questionable moral tendency or of 
doubtful propriety. 

Impurity. 

Of all impurity and uncleanness it may truth¬ 
fully be said that it “is linked together in a 
slimy tangle like a field of sea-weed so that the 
man who is caught in its oozy fingers is almost 
sure to be drowned.” It is like “Maelstrom” 
on the coast of Norway, that has swallowed in 


166 


Men Wanted. 


its capacious maw so many unsuspecting pleas¬ 
ure parties: its movements are at first entic¬ 
ing, fascinating, but as it swings around it 
gathers force and grips more closely the craft 
that it finally swallows in its hungry vortex, 
leaving no trace of its victims to warn others 
who may be lured to a like fate. 

The evil propensities of the carnal nature 
manifest themselves very early in life. The 
boy that is not held in leash by proper parental 
restraint, and whose mind is not preempted for 
the things that are good and pure, will not lack 
for suggestions that lead astray, and, frequent¬ 
ly before he has come to early manhood, is 
soiled in his thoughts, and his moral nature is 
befouled by contact with the impurity that, like 
a deadly miasma, infects the very atmosphere 
of the street, the campus and the athletic field. 

It is the earnest desire of the writer of this 
book that it may prove to be to the young men 
of our country what the lighthouse and bell- 
buoy are to the mariner: a beacon of warning 
that shall lead them clear of the hidden rocks 
and sand-bars, and of all the perils that lie in 
the way of the young men of today there is not 
one that needs to be more studiously avoided 
than the all too prevalent sin of impurity that 
stains the life; that soils the mind; that pol¬ 
lutes the soul, and that renders the whole man, 
soul and body, unclean. 

When we speak or write of social impurity 
it is generally understood that we refer to that 


Wrecks. 


167 


social abomination and aggregation of all that 
is vile and impure, “the scarlet woman”; the 
woman who is degraded to the lowest depths of 
depravity; whose face is past shame and whose 
heart is past hope; the social outcast of whom 
Solomon wrote warning his son against her se¬ 
ductive influence, saying “her house inclineth 
unto death and her paths unto the dead. Let 
not thine heart decline to her ways; go not 
astray in her paths. * * * Her house is 

the way to hell, going down to the chambers of 
death.” To those who come her way she calls, 
saying, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread 
eaten in secret is pleasant, but the dead are 
there and her guests are in the depths of hell.” 

The place of her abode, the section where 
these derelicts congregate, is by way of desig¬ 
nation, known as “the red light district”, and 
this is a most appropriate designation. The 
“red light” is a danger signal usually employed 
to warn persons away from some unsafe place 
or perilous thing such as a broken bridge, an 
obstruction in a highway of travel; some pit- 
fall which ought to be avoided. 

There is no other place on earth that a young 
man should so positively and forever avoid as 
the red light district ; and the strange thing is 
that a young man of ordinary good sense will, 
in spite of all the warnings that are given, and 
in spite of all that is known of the pernicious 
and damning effects of this evil, deliberately, 
invite the physical disease and wreckage; the 


168 


Men Wanted. 


moral degradation; the moral and spiritual de¬ 
generation, and the self condemnation that must 
come sooner or later to the habitue of these 
haunts of the vilest of social sins. 

Here in these dens of infamy and shame the 
young man is brought into contact with all that 
is degrading, demoralizing and wicked. The 
house of the scarlet woman is, indeed, “the 
gate-way to hell.” Here vice in every form 
holds high carnival. Here the dregs of society 
—beings human in form only, congregate. The 
very atmosphere of the place is death to moral¬ 
ity, to personal honor, to social purity and to 
all the finer sensibilities of the soul. The kiss 
of the harlot on the cheek of a young man is in¬ 
deed a “darned spot that will not out.” No 
washing can remove its stain, for it leaves its 
withering, blighting impress on the soul; and 
once a young man has dipped into this sink of 
iniquity he can never afterward be as pure and 
clean as he was before. 

How can a young man who has soiled his 
body and his soul in this cesspool of iniquity 
look a good and pure young woman in the face 
and ask her to become his wife! Why does he 
not return to the brothel and from the denizens 
of that place select one to become his life com¬ 
panion! He will not because he knows they are 
impure; and yet he will ask a chaste and virtu¬ 
ous woman to accept him who is just as im¬ 
pure as the despised harlot. He is a deceiver 
as well as a degenerate; for did the unsuspect- 


Wrecks. 


169 


mg virgin know the truth concerning him, no 
matter what else he might have to offer her, 
she would despise him, and lie knows it. 

There is nothing on earth more admirable 
than moral and Christian manhood that is pure 
and clean in thought and conversation, and that 
is in its social relations unimpeachable; that 
goes through the environments of this earthly 
existence with its garments unsoiled; nor is 
there anything more despicable in the sight of 
God and pure minded men and women than the 
social libertine whose very presence is a threat¬ 
ening pestilence, and a menace to the moral and 

social life of the communitv where he makes 

«/ 

his haunt. 

Sickness or accident may temporarily de¬ 
prive one of his health, but proper medical 
treatment may restore him to his previous phy¬ 
sical condition; he has another chance. An un¬ 
fortunate business venture may impoverish 
him; but if he has maintained his moral and 
business integrity in spite of his mosfortune, 
he will have left him what is better than wealth: 
a clear conscience and the respect of those who 
know him, and, what is better still, his own self 
respect. If for maintaining a right principle 
he must forfeit the friendship of some hitherto 
professed admirers, he will have the compen¬ 
sating reward of more and better friends; but 
if he has bartered his manly honor as the cost 
of sensual gratification; if he has befouled his 


170 


Men Wanted. 


moral nature and defiled his soul through con¬ 
tact with social vice: 

“When virtue’s sold, great Gods, what price 

Can recompense the pangs of vice?” 

The Charmer With an Evil Eye. 

In the East there are persons who are said to 
have “The Evil EYE,” and strange powers 
are attributed to them, and the people wear 
amulets to ward off their hypnotic influence; 
but these “charmers” can have no power for 
evil until they get the eye of their intended vic¬ 
tims; and this would seem to imply consent on 
the part of the intended dupe. The old adage 
that “it takes two to make a bargain.” holds 
good in morals as well as in business transac¬ 
tions. In contracting disease two things are 
essential: a poison germ without and a suscep¬ 
tibility to contagion within. Some persons are 
immune from certain forms of disease, and can 
live in the midst of an epidemic without any 
danger of contracting the disease because there 
is nothing in their constitution that responds to 
the poison germ. It is only the scavenger that 
will be attracted by the scent of carrion. It is 
the nature of the swine that inclines it to wal¬ 
low in the mire. To the pure in thought only 
that which is pure has any attraction. If the 
noblest ambitions are to rule a man’s life they 
must occupy and engross his thoughts. An im¬ 
pure thought entertained in the mind will create 
a desire akin to it that will most likely result 


Wrecks. 


171 


in an act which will suitably correspond with 
the impulse that gave it birth; the act repeated 
becomes habit, and habit determines the course 
of the life. 

As we advance in life our moral and spiritual 
nature is constantly changing, and we are be¬ 
coming more in love with the tilings that are 
pure and good, or else we are more inclined to 
the things that are low and vulgar; and the 
mental pabulum on which we feed our minds 
will determine the gravitation upward to that 
which elevates and ennobles or downward to 
the things that defile and degrade. If the mind 
is preoccupied with pure thoughts and the soul 
is fired with a holy ambition to be all that God 
makes possible for it to be, then the trend of 
the life will be upward toward the good, always. 

Astronomers build their observatories on 
mountain tops and not down in the valleys, not 
for the sake of getting nearer to the stars they 
are to investigate but for atmospheric advan¬ 
tages. Down in the valleys the moisture that is 
in the atmosphere will cause a film to gather 
on the reflecting mirror of the telescope which 
obscures the object of their search, but up on 
the mountain top the atmosphere is rarified 
and transparent and the vision is unobstructed. 

“Great heights give wide vision to open eyes,” 
and it is only when a man gets up above the sen¬ 
sual and carnal level of life that the horizon is 
pushed back, and he can revel in the pleasures 
that are all unknown to the carnally minded 
sensualist. 


172 


Men Wanted. 


When Abraham and his nephew, Lot, came 
out from Egypt into the land of Canaan they 
had both grown rich in flocks and herds, and it 
became necessary for them to separate in order 
to find pasture for their herds. Abraham very 
generously gave Lot his choice of territory, an<C 
he chose the vallev of the Jordan because it 
was “well watered everywhere’’ as well as fine 
grazing land, and he “pitched his tent toward 
Sodom.” That was a critical moment in the 
life of Lot. There might be good pasturage in 
the valley, but Sodom was a wicked city, reek¬ 
ing with all that was impure and vile. And 
Lot knew it. He may have said “I am not look¬ 
ing for society just now, but for pasture. It is 
a matter of business with me.” 

He pitched his tent toward Sodom. He did 
not go all the way at first, perhaps he did not 
intend ever to go all the way. But he started 
in that direction and the next we hear of him is 
that he is dwelling in Sodom, and his reghteous 
soul is vexed with the manners and customs of 
his ungodly neighbors. But he is getting rich; 
and as he cannot have the rich pasture lands 
without having Sodom with them, he perhaps 
concludes that what cannot be avoided must be 
endured; and, having gone to live in Sodom, 
Lot stayed there in spite of many disadvan¬ 
tages aud even losses. 

Lot had now become a Sodomite. By con¬ 
tact with the people he had become morally as¬ 
similated with them. The immoralities of the 


w RECKS. 


173 


people had lost their repulsive appearance to 
him. He could see the sin of the Sodomites and 
not hate it; and when the doom of the wicked 
city was sealed in tire and Lot was mercifully 
led out from it the only thing he carried out with 
him was the sin of the Sodomites. 

Young man, have you come to the parting of 
the ways, having until this time maintained a 
clean and pure life? Then in the name of all 
that is sacred and dear to vou I beseech you 
stay in Canaan with Abraham. Or, have you 
pitched your tent toward Sodom? Are you 
heading in that direction? If you are, stop; 
about face and return to the Canaan of a pure 
life. Seek the pardon of God for the trans¬ 
gressions of the past through the atoning blood 
of Jesus Christ. Don’t just “straighten up and 
try again;” that will not be sufficient. You will 
need help in the work of reformation, and such 
help as only God can give. If a man has a con¬ 
tagious disease he cannot cure it by putting on 
a new suit of clothes: what he needs in not a 
tailor, but a doctor. So the man whose moral 
nature is tainted by contact with the things 
that defile cannot cleanse himself by simply re¬ 
solving to lead a better life. You might just as 
well try to change the climate by act of Con¬ 
gress, or attempt to stop the ravages of some 
deadly epidemic by resolution of the town coun¬ 
cil, while the cause of the epidemic remains in 
force. The only thing that can save from the 
sins of the past is the pardoning grace of God 


174 


Men Wanted. 


exercised through the atonement made for us 
by our Lord Jesus Christ; and only he is safe 
who is kept by the power of God through faith 
in him. 

The Drink Devil. 

Here we uncover a serpent that has left its 
slimy track on every page of human history. 
Noah had scarcely escaped to dry land after 
the Flood until he was intoxicated on his own 
wine. Lot, while the smoke of the burning city 
from which he had just fled was still ascending 
committed the sin of incest while intoxicated. 
And from then until today, through all the ages, 
in all lands and from all classes of society: rich 
and poor, cultured and ignorant, good and bad 
this arch enemv of man has taken a terrible toll. 

True we have outlawed the manufacture and 
sale of intoxicating liquors in this country, so 
far as it relates to use for beverage purposes, 
and, theoretically, have closed the open saloon; 
but we still have the smuggler, the boot-legger 
and others of the social riff-raff, law-defying 
class; who like the fiery serpents of the desert, 
lie in wait for their unsuspecting victim; and 
they are never better pleased than when they 
can entice a young man of sober habits to drink 
the poisonous stuff they dispense. Beware of 
them. Beware also of the social glass of wine 
in the parlor and in the business office. It is 
not in the low groggery reeking with filth; the 
abode of profane and vulgar loungers that the 


Wrecks. 


175 


genteel young man begins the drink habit, but 
usually it is in the social circle where the fash¬ 
ionable and respectable folks meet and drink 
that he enters the way that leads to habitual 
drinking and to a drunkard’s life. There is no 
more evil and pernicious practice tolerated and 
approved by society than dram-drinking and 
“treating”. It tempts the young man to in¬ 
dulge rather than appear to be ungracious to¬ 
ward his friend, and at first he may indulge only 
when in company with bibulous companions; 
but once the appetite is formed the drink habit 
easily follows, and he is heading toward the 
rock on which so many splendid young men have 
been wricked. 

The process of making drunkards is not un¬ 
like the way they make nail rod in an iron mill. 
In doing this they take a large bolus or iron at 
white heat and passing it first through a pair 
of large rolls which shape it up somewhat, and 
then through rolls somewhat smaller; and then 
after being re-heated this process is continued 
until that large mass of iron is reduced to the 
size of nail rod, or even to small wire. Such is 
the process of drunkard making. First of all the 
drinker neglects his business; then he loses his 
“job”, and with that goes his living. Then he 
loses his respectability: his appearance 
changes; his good clothes and tidy appearance 
give place to shabby dress and unkept condi¬ 
tion ; and then his own self-respect goes, and he 
joins the down-and-out procession; discarded 


176 


Men Wanted. 


by his friends of other days and despised by his 
new associates, and, worst of all, loses his im¬ 
mortal soul; for: 4 ‘the drunkard and the glutton 
shall come to poverty ’ ’ and 4 4 no drunkard shall 
inherit the kingdom of God.” 

A trite saying among those who habitually 

use intoxicating liquors as a beverage is’ 44 if 

you will let liquor alone it will never hurt you.” 

That saying is as false as anything can be, and 

every one, even those who are wont to repeat 

it must know it. How many wives have died of 

broken hearts because of the ill treatment thev 

* 

have received from besotted husbands; and yet 
those wives never touched a drop of the accurs¬ 
ed stuff. How many little children have suf¬ 
fered for the necessary comforts of life or been 
left destitute because of the profligacy of a 
drunken father. They let liquor alone but it 
did not let them alone. 

This 44 let it alone” argument was the favor¬ 
ite plea of a good, kind hearted, industrious 
man, but who was a 44 moderate drinker”. He 
was a farmer and spent most of his time at 
home. He had two fine, vivacious boys who 
spent most of their evenings in the town near 
by the farm; and while their father was apolo¬ 
gizing for the saloon and justifying the use of 
intoxicating liquors, 44 in moderation,” as he 
would always say, those boys were being made 
drunkards and gamblers in the saloon of the 
town. They died in early manhood; in each 
case their death hastened by a drunken debauch, 


Wkecks. 177 

and today each of them sleeps in a drunkard’s 
grave. 

Don’t he decieved; don’t he fooled by the 
specious pleas of those who imbibe. They will 
tell you that a glass of intoxicating beverage is 
necessary to social enjoyment : must a man ad¬ 
dle his brain in order to converse intelligently? 
They will say there is no compulsion to drink; 
that you can drink or you can let it alone; yes, 
but they will not tell you that ninety nine out of 
every hundred that begin to drink with that un¬ 
derstanding, drink and do not let it alone. 

If the young man who is about to take his 
first drink of intoxicating liquor could only 
see the serpent that lies coiled up in the glass; 
if he could see the demon standing with chains 
to bind him; if he could only realize what a fool 
it will make of him, he would dash the stuff 
away and never let is pass his lips. It would so 
impress him that he would shudder at the 
thought of inviting such a fate. The strange 
thing is that any young man, seeing the evi¬ 
dences of the ruin wrought by the drink habit, 
will begin this practice and continue it until he 
finally joins the great army a hundred and 
fifty thousand strong of our American men who 
go down annually to drunkards graves. 

In reading the history of the past we have 
many times been shocked by the record of the 
barbarities and shameless cruelties that have 
been practiced under the protection of law; and 
sometimes even under the garb of religious p v e- 


178 


Men Wanted. 


tense; as in the case of the Spanish Inquisition, 
or the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day; 
but the time will come when the student of his¬ 
tory will pass these and other kindred occur¬ 
rences by as of minor importance, because of 
the ignorance of the people of those times, com¬ 
pared with the monstrous fact that our govern¬ 
ment, a professedly Christian government; 
even as late as the beginning of the Twentieth 
Century, tolerated, legalized and made legally 
respectable a business that has ‘ 4 wrecked more 
homes, dug more graves, made more criminals, 
and damned more souls than war, famine, and 
pestilence, all combined.” 

Gambling. 

Under this heading we may class any act or 
transaction by which a man risks his money or 
whatnot with the hope of getting something for 
which he does not give an equivalent in value: 
any act or deal whereby one expects to get 
something for nothing. 

With this definition kept in mind we shall 
understand the term is not limited in its appli¬ 
cation to any particular transaction, but to any 
and all species of transactions where the ele¬ 
ment of chance predominates in the mind and 
purpose of the participant. 

The most prevalent way of gambling is play¬ 
ing at cards or the throwing of dice. These are 
the forms usually practiced in the lowest haunts 
of vice, and if there is nothing else to be said 


Wrecks. 


179 


against social card playing, it is sufficient to 
condemn it that it furnishes the young man 
with the knowledge that fits him for the practice 
of the vice of gambling; for the game is played 
just the same in the parlor and in gambling 
hell, Indeed much of the parlor gaming is 
gambling, pure and simple, for whenever the 
game is played for a stake of any sort, it is 
gambling. In the game of progressive euchre 
or Bridge whist, which is so common in certain 
social circles, the women who with dainty fin¬ 
gers so deftly handle the cards would resent 
the accusation of law breaking; and yet there 
is the very best of authority for saying that if 
these society folks were indicted and brought 
before a court of law, and the indictment proven 
true, they would be found guilty and liable to 
punishment just the same as any common gamb¬ 
ler. 

Here is where most of the notorious criminals 
began their downward course. It was in the 
social game in the home parlor, playing for 
some nominal prize; or it was a boy feeding his 
nickles into the mouth of the hungry slot-ma¬ 
chine, hoping to get a prize that he knew his 
nickle would not pay for. A little later he 
plays at billiards or pool, hoping to win the 
game and have the other fellow pay the fee or 
treat to cigars when the game was over. But 
these soon become too tame to satisfy him and 
the poker game easily follows. Such is the 
gateway to the gambler’s life and there is no 


180 


Men Wanted. 


telling to what limit he will go when once he has 
entered the race. 

A young man who respects himself and who 
wishes to be held in esteem by those who know 
him will not be found loitering around a pool- 
room or other places where gambling of any 
sort is permitted, because of the suspicion it 
will aroyse in the minds of those who know 
him. Even if he does not play the game, his 
presence there will justify the suspicion that he 
does, and this will be to his prejudice, not alone 
in his social relations but, also financially, for 
when a cereful business man is looking for some 
one to do business for him he does not go to the 
poolroom or to the billiard parlor to find him. 
When you see an animal in a pasture field wear¬ 
ing a hobble that is not positive proof that the 
animal is mischievous, but it is strong presump¬ 
tive evidence that the owner of the animal is 
suspicious of the animal’s disposition. Like¬ 
wise it is a reflection on the character and re¬ 
putation of a young man for him to frequent 
such places as are known to be gambling re¬ 
sorts. If he does not gamble he has no busi¬ 
ness there. If he goes there because the social 
life he finds there is agreeable to his tastes, his 
moral standard must be of a very low order. 

What has come to be a popular way of gamb¬ 
ling is dealing in “margins”: buying and sell¬ 
ing stocks that it is understood are never to be 
delivered. The young man who risks his 
money in this game is like a lamb among wolves, 


Wrecks. 


181 


and one of two things is sure to follow: either 
he must be shrewd enough to beat the whole 
“street” or be devoured by the wolves; and 
with every young man with whom 1 have been 
acquainted who has tried this game it soon 
came to pass that there was more wolf and less 
lamb. When the “ squeeze ” comes to drive 
the small dealers out of the market, the stock 
gambler’s conscience takes a holiday. 

‘ 4 Pool selling” is considered the most popu¬ 
lar way of gambling, perhaps because it is gen¬ 
erally carried on by men of large means. To 
those who have an inclination to gamble the 
temptation to put their money into the pool is 
very great, and not unfrequently men of high 
position and great responsibility for trust funds 
are caught in this snare, as was the case of a 
State Treasurer who risked and lost the funds 
of the State entrusted to his keeping, and who, 
for his dishonesty was sent to the penitentiary, 
and his bondsmen were financially ruined. 

Speaking of the pernicious vice of poolsell¬ 
ing, Anthony Comstock, who speaks with au¬ 
thority on this subject, says: “It is not infre¬ 
quent that Judges and prosecuting attorneys, 
and other officials are seen at these places dip¬ 
ping their fingers in the gambler’s pool, al¬ 
though at common law it has for centuries been 
held that a gambling house is a public nuisance. 
Imagine a young man stealing a thousand dol¬ 
lars of his employer’s money with which he has 
been entrusted and placing it in the gambler’s 


182 


Men Wanted. 


pool. He is detected and convicted of his crime. 
The Judge who is to sentence him bet in the 
same pool, and, being more fortunate than the 
prisoner, won; and as he sits in judgment some 
of the very money the young man stole and lost 
is in the Judge’s pocket, his proportion of the 
gambler’s pool of stolen plunder.” 

The very principle of gambling is crminal 
for the motive and inspiration that promotes it 
is the hope of robbing someone else. The hun¬ 
dred billions of dollars that annually pass 
through the gambling shops in this country and 
Europe, is just so much of the circulating med¬ 
ium of the nations withdrawn from the legiti¬ 
mate channels of profitable industry, to support 
a confederacy of light-fingered gentry, pirates; 
the price of whose prosperity is the sinking of 
other wealth-bearing crafts. 

The difference between the gambler and the 
highway robber is about this: the highwayman 
meets you with a pistol and says “your money 
or your life”; while the gambler meets you by 
appointment in some secluded place and robs 
you of your money as mercilessly as the high¬ 
way bandit will, and then masquerades before 
the community as a gentleman. 

What makes this vice more dangerous than 
it would otherwise be is the extremes it em¬ 
braces. On the one hand it is sequestered in 
palatial quarters with delicate draperies and 
exquisite furnishings throughout. Here are 
splendid parlors and incomparable dining 


Wrecks. 


183 


rooms; everything here is inviting, and, judg¬ 
ing from the general appearance of things no 
one would suspect that this place is “a den of 
thieves.’’ 

BUT of all gambling resorts this class is 
most dangerous because it is most enticing. 
It has the sanction and patronage of men of 
large wealth, and also of men prominent in pub¬ 
lic affairs. Dr. Cuyler describes such a place as 
this in New York City, kept and owned by a 
member of the United States Congress. Of it 
he says 4 4 The doors were open to all; a sump¬ 
tuous feast was spread free to the players; the 
furniture was elegant ; the players were fash¬ 
ionably dressed. They gathered about a rou¬ 
lette table; staked large piles of greenbacks, 
and lost or won in silence. ’ ’ 

On the other hand is the miserable dive in a 
dark allev, where there is the total absence of 
everything that is pleasing or inspiring, with 
the added presence of all that is disgusting and 
vile. In yonder fashionable resort fortunes are 
lost or won on the throwing of the dice or the 
turn of “the wheel of fortune”. Men go there 
rich and they go away poor. Down in the dive 
the players are clad in rags and the stakes are 
petty pilferings of a night. The gamblers who 
frequent the place are the miserable wrecks who 
have drifted down from yonder fashionable re¬ 
sort. They are no longer regarded as fit com¬ 
panions for those who congregate up there. 
When they were up there they were regarded 


184 


Men Wanted. 


as gentlemen, but now they are regarded as 
thieves and robbers. But they are the same 
men they were before, and they are practicing 
the same vocation as the wealthier set who play 
for larger stakes in the more fashionable gamb¬ 
ling resorts. The only ditference is this: these 
patrons of the dive are the men who staked 
their money np yonder and lost; those who re¬ 
main up there are the men who played with 
them and won. THAT IS ALL. 

Let us put aside the curtain and for a moment 
look in on the last hours of one of these finished 
gamblers. It is the evening hour, and he is 
alone. The hovel where he makes his home is 
dark and squalid. The walls are stained and 
grimy, and are not adorned with a single orna¬ 
ment of any sort. The dying embers burn slow¬ 
ly away on the hearth. Here in this uncanny 
hut, in the fading twilight, sits a lone man. 
His face is careworn and sad. He is thinking 
of the days gone by that in their flight have 
brought to him opportunities for success, which 
he, like Esau of old, has only despised and 
wasted. 

He recalls the home of his boyhood where his 
father toiled on the old farm for the support 
of his family. He recalls the day when he left 
that happy home for the city where he drifted 
with the tide into an evil life, and on to vice and 
shame. He remembers how he came one day in¬ 
to the splendid apartments where merchant 


Wrecks. 


185 


princes, whom no one thought of as gamblers, 
staked their fortunes on the throwing of the 
dice or the expert shuffling of a pack of cards. 
They invited him into the pool; he entered, and 
lost; and the ill fortunes of that place and hour 
sent him out into the chilly midnight gloom, 
penniless and friendless. Then he came to the 
less pretentious resort in the hope that while 
he had lost up yonder he might win down here. 
Ah, yes, he recalls it all know. He remembers 
how as he entered there besotted men and dis¬ 
solute women sat aside their overflowing gob¬ 
lets and turned their eves, reddened with dissi- 
pation, upon him. They gave him their hands 
stained with bribes and with blood, only that 
they might drag him down to depths of infamy 
and shame to which he had not before de¬ 
scended. 

As he reviews the past his life seems a hide¬ 
ous nightmare. He recalls the propitious morn¬ 
ing of life’s day, but the day has gone out in 
the utter gloom of hopeless midnight. God 
only knows what he might have been; with sor¬ 
row he alone knows what- he is. God only 
knows the height to which he might have risen; 
he alone knows the depths of disappointment, 
disgrace and remorse to which he has sunken. 
For the first time in all his life he realizes the 
enormity of the evil he has wrought; realizes 
the guilt of his sin against God and against 
himself. But it is now too late to retrieve his 


186 


Men Wanted. 


wasted past, and in a frenzy of soul lie ends a 
life that is no longer endurable. 

There is no exageration in the picture I have 
drawn, rather it is a conservative statement 
of what is daily transpiring, and you have only 
to read the daily newspapers to find it dupli¬ 
cated many times. Poverty, friendlessness, dis¬ 
grace, remorse, and irretrievable ruin are the 
terminal points in the life of a gambler. The 
gambling house is the gateway to all that is un¬ 
manly, immoral and wicked. It is the rendez¬ 
vous of the dishonest employee, the embezzling 
cashier, the common thief, and the vicious 
young man, all in training for the penitentiary 
or the electric chair. Here are sleek and gentle ¬ 
manly scoundrels and filthy and horrible 
wrecks; every kind and every grade; all ages 
and both sexes; human in form, but fiends, de¬ 
mons in spirit. 

Has the lure of the game an attraction for 
you? Beware of the fascination that lures to 
waste of time, to evil associations, to lowering 
of moral standards, to the loss of self respect 
and the respect of those who know you. Be a 
MAN among men. ' Be clean and pure in all 
that relates to your social life. Be diligent in 
business, providing with money honestly gained 
all the necessaries of life. Live right before 
God in every relation and fearlessly face the 
future here and hereafter. 44 Do justly, love 
mercy, and walk humbly with thy God”. This 
is the sure way to happiness her and hereafter. 


Religion. 


“Reek ye first the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness, and all these things shall be 
added unto you." Jesus Christ. 

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of 
thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the 
years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no 
pleasure in them." Solomon. 

“The recognition of personal accountability 
to the Eternal makes a man strong in the resis¬ 
tance of temptation, makes him not afraid , be¬ 
cause his heart is right no matter what may 
come to him." Rev. J. A. Jayne. 


The Young Man and His God. 

We are living in an age that is characterized 
by the spirit of independence of thought and 
action. Everywhere the ties that once bound 
men in partisan, political alliances are break¬ 
ing, and the intelligent citizen is asserting his 
right to be heard in matters affecting the 
government under which he lives; and the poli¬ 
tical ‘ 6 boss 1 ’ is being relegated to the rear. In 
monarchical governments the rulers are learn¬ 
ing the fact that only the king or emperor who 




188 


Men Wanted. 


administers t-lie laws of the land in such a man¬ 
ner as appeals to the judgment of his subjects 
can hope to maintain his rule in peace. 

Religiously, too, the spirit of independence 
is asserting itself. Men no longer bow to the 
ipse dixit of bishop or pope. The ancient shib- 
bcleth, “The church decrees it”, has lost its 
power to coerce man. The world is learning 
more and more that the supreme obligation of 
man is to his God and not to any merely human 
authority. 

And this is as it ought to be. God gave us 
brains to be used, and there is no matter that 
can engage us here of so much importance as a 
right understanding of our relation to God and 
the obligations arising out of that relationship. 
His invation to us is “Come, and let us reason 
together.” 

True and intelligent worship of God is, first 
of all, the clear and distinct recognition of the 
presence of God, but while the clear recognition 
of the presence of God must necessarily awaken 
the deepest sense of reverence and gratitude 
toward Him, the most sincere and acceptable 
worship of God is not merely the incoherent, 
impulsive response of the emotions of the soul, 
nor the erratic vaporings of an excited imag¬ 
ination ; but it is reverent and thoughtful recog¬ 
nition of the divine presence and grateful ac¬ 
knowledgment of the gocdness and mercv of 
God. 

There is a tendency in the trend of modern 


Keligion. 


189 


thought that forbodes evil to the young men 
of today, unless they shall carefully sift the 
literature of the times and detect the sophis¬ 
tical teachings of some modern champions of 
‘ i free thought ” who are wise above what is 
written. There is also a tendency in certain 
quarters to revise religious standards, and to 
substitute for time-honored fundamentals in 
religion what they are pleased to put forth as 
the discoveries of modern research by twentieth 
century scholars. The religious iconoclast is 
running rampant, endeavoring to pull to pieces 
the fabric of existing religious systems, and he 
tries to cover his miserable moral and religious 
deformity with the thin disguise of freedom of 
thought in religious matters. 

They would emasculate all religious creeds, 
so that our holy religion would contain nothing 
that is super-human. They would have you 
believe that all professions of personal Chris¬ 
tian experience are superstition and wild fan¬ 
aticism. They would strip God of His person¬ 
ality and reduce Him to a mere principle; and 
for His creative power they would substitute 
the doctrine of evolution of matter, putting 
Darwin in the place of Moses, and, instead of a 
divine, providential care and oversight, they 
would abandon the world to the inexorable rule 
and reign cf Natural Law. 

As a very natural sequence they would hush 
every song of praise and silence every voice 
of prayer, for, if God be not a person, if He be 


190 


Men Wanted. 


only a principle, then praise is meaningless 
and prayer is worse than mockery. But in 
spite of all their revisions, faith still holds on 
to God and to the idea of worship as the fathers 
have tought us. In spite of all doubts, in spite 
of all denials, God lives! God reigns! And 
the call of young manhood to recognize and 
acknowledge Him was never clearer, nor more 
imperative, than it is today. 

A young gentleman, a friend of mine, was 
attending college and it was a school where I 
had learned that the professors, many of them 
at least, were disposed to be skeptical about 
religious matters, especially as to the doctrine 
of the origin of things; and learning that he 
was then in the study of biology, I asked, 
“What is the attitude of your teachers toward 
the Scriptural idea of creation? How do they 
regard the story of Genesis ?” 

“Well,” answered; he, “they do not believe 
the Mosaic account of creation; they believe 
and teach the doctrine of evolution of matter, 
both as it relates to the world itself and to all 
vegetable and animal life. They say that all 
life begins in and is developed from the germ, 
etc.” 

“What do you believe,” said I. 

“ I am willing,” he replied, “to accept the 
theory of the professors so far as the theory 
of evolution or growth is concerned, but I ask 
the professors where the germ itself came 
from?” 


Religion. 


191 


“And what is their answer to you!” 

“Well, they are not sure—they do not know.” 

Instead of all the cavilings and guessing of 
these modern professors, I very much prefer 
the opinion of that Hebrew professor who lived 
about two thousand years ago and who gave it 
as his opinion that 4 ‘ the worlds were framed by 
the word of God, so that things which are seen 
were not made of things which do appear.” 

The recognition of God and the acknowledg¬ 
ment of His claim upon us should be the first 
consideration in every human life. He is not 
only the author of our being but also of our 
well-being. ‘ ‘ In Him we live and move and have 
our being.” His providential care and oversight 
are the source from whence flow all our bless¬ 
ings, both temporal and spiritual and, aside 
from all other considerations, the prinicple of 
common gratitude requires that we acknowledge 
Him in all our ways. The admonition of the wise 
man, “Remember now thy Creator in the days 
of thy youth,” reasonably claims the attention 
of every young man who aspires to excellence of 
character and to the highest ideals of true man¬ 
hood. The recognition of God, and the desire 
to knew and love and serve Him, distinguishes 
man from the brute. 

Youth is the time most favorable for seeking 
the Lord. It is the day when we do not have 
any note in bank that must be met at maturity. 
The mind is not engrossed with the cares which 
must necessarily come with more mature years. 


192 


Men Wanted. 


It seems a pity that youth cannot always last, 
that the step must lose its elasticity and spring; 
that the ear must become heavy and the eye 
grow dim; that the brow must be furrowed and 
the “crows-feet” come to the corners of the 
eyes; that the head must whiten, the step falter 
and the strength fail. And yet so it is. 

The days of pleasure that are free from care 
and responsibility soon pass and are gone, and 
then come the days when the real tragedy of 
life demands that we come on the stage and 
take our part. The manner in which we per¬ 
form it will bring to us either the applause or 
the sneer of those who look on; and no matter 
whether it be the one or the other we must act 
our part, indifferent to either praise or cen¬ 
sure, if we are to succeed. 

And so life becomes full of care and enxiety, 
absorbing our thought and wasting our 
strength, and almost before we realize it we 
find ourselves having passed the meridian of 
life’s day, and the westering sun tells us that 
the night is approaching. Too often the life 
that was given up in the days of youth to plea¬ 
sure seeking has been so engrossed with the 
business of middle life that God has been for¬ 
gotten, and the things that make for the eternal 
welfare have been neglected. Though the man 
may have been successful in the things which 
pertain to the present life, in all that pertains 
to the future, eternal life and to his immortal 
being he is a spiritual bankrupt. 


Religion. 


193 


How desolate must the old man feel who finds 
himself, like the lonely oak that is left 
where once the waving forest stood, soli¬ 
tary and alone, with no assurance of meet¬ 
ing in another life those whom he has “ loved 
and lost awhile”! Other persons, it is true, 
have come to live in their places, but they are 
strangers to him. How wide the world seems 
to the man who is alone! How cold the charities 
of strangers! What miserable irony in the 
epitaph that a wag wrote and placed at the 
grave of a man who died a stranger in a charity 
hospital! 

“The old bachelor’s dead, here he lies; 

Nobody laughs and nobody cries; 

Where he has gone, or how he fares, 

Nobody knows, nobody caree.” 


There is but one thing that can compensate 
for the loneliness of age, and that is the con¬ 
sciousness of having spent the life in the ser¬ 
vice of God, and the assurance that when the 
few remaining days are gone there is for us 
another and a better life, where the ties that 
here have been rudely broken shall be re-united, 
never again to be disturbed. 

But how sad to contemplate a godless old 
age, about to leave this world and all unpre¬ 
pared for the next! The cords that bound us 
to earth snapped asunder one by one, and no 
moorings that draw us to a better home! With 
what condemnation must he reproach himself 


194 


Men Wanted. 


for having neglected the all important matter 
of salvation! The business man was careful 
to meet his obligation and preserve his credit; 
the farmer watched the passing season and 
planted his crop before it was too late; but 
this man forgot his obligation and wasted his 
opportunity. With him the seedtime has come 
and gone and he planted nothing; the harvest 
has passed and he has reaped nothing. 

You who are in the full swing of the tide of 
young life do not think it possible that such can 
ever be your experience. You will say, “No, 
it is not possible that in a world where there is 
so much that is beautiful; so much to be enjoy¬ 
ed ; so much that I love; so many ties that bind 
me to it—no, it is not possible that I could 
ever be lonely and sad.” But wait until the 
summertime of youth with its flowers and 
beauty has faded; wait until the autumn sear 
is on the leaf; wait until the ties that so tender¬ 
ly and yet so firmly bind you to earth are 
broken, and you realize that you are alone in 
the midst of a world that is throbbing every¬ 
where with a life that is strange to you. Wait 
until the exuberance of youth has passed; wait 
until the change of disposition and taste and 
temperament manifests itself, which comes 
with the advance from youth to age as natural¬ 
ly as cold, bleak winter follows the summertime 
—wait till these come and the friends of vouth 
are gone, leaving you alone, and you will find 
yourself living in an entirely different world 


Religion. 


195 


from the one you are enjoying so much now. 

In the tabernacle that Moses built there was 
a lamp, attached to which was a golden howl 
that supplied the lamp continually with oil. 

There is, or ought to be, in every human life 
a golden bowl, from which the soul can draw 
satisfaction and pleasure when other sources 
fail. This we call reflection or introspection, 
and when the golden bowl is broken we are 
robbed of one of the richest sources of comfort 
in the days of old age. Age, as we know, is a 
period of infirmity when we can no longer en¬ 
dure the stress and hustle of business life, and 
when the dizzy whirl of social pleasures become 
a weariness to the flesh. We are then mainlv 
shut up with the memories of the life we have 
lived in the past, and the breaking of the bowl 
may represent the inability of a godless soul in 
the time of old age to find pleasure in reflection. 

We must remember the past; we cannot help 
it. Good or bad it will stay with us, and what¬ 
ever recalls the memory of it will be either a 
source of pleasure or of regret to us. The good 
man who has devoted his life to noble deeds 
and to the service of God and the good of his 
fellow man; who has lived with the windows of 
his soul open; who has been upright in all his 
dealings with men; who has loved mercy and, 
above all, has walked humbly with his God, 
finds a peculiar pleasure in reflecting on the 
past. But the memories of a bad man’s life, 
like the turbulent, tossing sea, can only cast up 


196 


Men Wanted. 


mire and dirt. There is no rest, there can be 
no peace; and the thoughts of his mind, day and 
night, are a source of regret, a constant surg¬ 
ing on the shore of the waves that have risen 
out of the depths of the past—memories of 
filthy conversations that stained the lips and be¬ 
fouled the soul; memories of evil deeds that 
stained the life and that “will not out” in spite 
of all the soul can do in its effort to forget them; 
memories of neglected duties, wasted oppor¬ 
tunities, opportunities that can never be recall¬ 
ed, opportunities that, like the water that has 
passed the wheel, have gone never to return. 

As to whether there is “an unpardonable 

sin” men may commit is a much discussed 

question, and theologians have decided it both 

negatively and affirmatively. As to who is right 

or who is wrong as it relates to sinning against 

God I shall not attempt to decide; but of one 

thing I am perfectly sure, that there is such a 

thing as unpardonable sin toward one’s self. 

The man who sins against his physical nature 

and thereby depletes the vital energies of his 

body, inviting disease and a premature senility; 

the man who bv the abuse of his moral and 

«/ 

spiritual powers renders obtuse and unrespons¬ 
ive his better nature, so that no appeal can 
arouse him to a realization of his actual condi¬ 
tion morally and spiritually, has certainly com¬ 
mitted a sin against himself that he can never 
forgive, neither in this world nor in the world 
that is to come. 


Religion. 


197 


There can be no pleasure derived from the 
review of a life that has abused and wasted all 
that was most precious. It is related of Bias, 
one of the best as well as the wisest men of 
ancient Greece, that when his native city was 
being invaded by a hostile army, when soldiers 
were pillaging the homes of the citizens and his 
fellcw townsmen were industriously endeavor¬ 
ing to secure their treasurers where the in¬ 
vaders would not find them, Bias alone 
gave himself no concern about such matters; 
and when asked to explain his indifference he 
replied, “My choicest treasurers are my own 
thoughts.” 

Rich, indeed, is the man who can thus find 
in the treasury of his own thoughts and in the 
memories of the past, riches more valuable and 
precious to him than all the gold or gems the 
mines of earth can yield; and correspondingly 
poor and miserable is the man who cannot free 
himself from the unpleasant memories of the 
past, memories that have become a part of him¬ 
self and that are as immortal as his spirit 
nature is. It is the effort of the soul to free 
itself from these miserable, tormenting memor¬ 
ies of the past that suggests the maddening 
bowl, the fatal bullet or the midnight plunge in 
the dark river. Oh, the bitter, tormenting re¬ 
morse of the soul that has only the memory of 
a wasted life! 

There are men, we meet them every day, 
Whose moral sensibilities have been blunted by 


198 


Men Wanted. 


long continuance in sin until those powers have 
been well nigh destroyed. By giving the rein 
to their carnal desires, they have actually cruci¬ 
fied and killed their better natures, and have 
sunken to the level of the brute. They have 
reached the point where they revel in all man¬ 
ner of ungodliness—they have lost the sense 
of manly honor. Once their hearts were tender 
and their consciences were easily moved; but 
they have strangled their convictions and sin¬ 
ned against their consciences until they have 
committed spiritual suicide. They do not enoy 
religious services because they have no relish 
for them. Their better judgment may approve 
the right, but the bent of their nature is in the 
opposite direction. 

The descent to this condition is a most easy 
and gradual one. The most degraded of men 
are what they are more from the force of habit 
than from any purpose to follow the life they 
are leading. The first departure from right 
was by the way of questionable pleasures and 
doubtful proprieties, but it led them on to 
where habit became second nature with them. 
The decent of the path was most easy and 
gradual, but its course was downward. 

Oh, these lives that are cheerless, sad and 
comfortless! They meet us everywhere: men 
who ought to have an abundance of the good of 
this world, but whose prodigality and proflig¬ 
acy have made them poor: men who are sur¬ 
rounded with those who ought to be their 


Religion. 


199 


friends, and who would have been their friends 
had they chosen the right course of conduct, 
but whose friendship they have forfeited by 
their own unworthiness. Are you standing at 
the parting of the ways? Remember, 6 ‘There 
is a way that seemeth right to a man but the 
end thereof are the ways of death.” Voices 
are calling you this way and that way, and you 
must decide which of these paths you will fol¬ 
low. Not only the present but the destinties of 
eternity, also, hang on your decision. If you 
listen to the voice of your better judgment you 
will make no mistake as to your duty, but have 
you the courage to follow your convictions? 

Years ago there were four young men who 
were “camping out” for a while together, and 
among the things that got into the baggage of 
one of them was a pack of playing cards. They 
had not been long in camp until the cards were 
brought out and playing began by three of the 
company, the fourth young man declining all 
invitations to join them in the game. But they 
insisted. “No,” he said, “I never play at 
cards.” 

“Oh,” they replied, “it is only for fun, we 
are not proposing to gamble.” 

“But,” answered the young man, “I know 
nothing about the game—never played a game 
of cards in my life. My parents have taught 
me that I would be best off if I let such things 
alone, and I have followed their advice. Please 
excuse me.” 


200 


Men Wanted. 


Still they insisted. They said it would add 
very much to their pleasure if he would join 
them, and, as to his ignorance of the game, one 
of the party generously offered to take him as 
his partner and teach him how to play. Finally 
rather than seem selfish or prudish, he con¬ 
sented to play and sat down with them. 

It soon became evident that the pack of cards 
was to play a large part in the pastimes of the 
company. They played the better part of two 
days, for there seemed a strange fascination 
in the game for the beginner and he held a 
“lucky hand” every time the cards were dealt. 
After a time he and his partner began tantaliz¬ 
ing the other fellows and bantered them with 
“If there is anything else you fellows can play, 
we might try it for the sake of variety, for this 
is becoming monotonous.” 

Right there the paths of those young men 
parted. One of those on the side that had been 
losing, getting angry, said, “I know we can 
beat you fellows, and to make it interesting I 
propose to put something on this game.” 

The cards had just been dealt for a new game, 
the players had taken their cards up from the 
table and the new player saw that he had a 
strong hand. On the impulse of the moment 
he said to the one who had proposed the 
“stake”, “All right, what shall the stake be?” 
Suddenly, there came to him a voice saying, 
“Don’t do it.” It was the voice of his dead 
father, and he paused for a moment, then yield- 


Religion. 


201 


ing to the warning given by the mysterious 
voice, he exposed his hand, so that the rest 
could see the cards he held, and said, “Do you 
see what I have!” 

“Yes,” answered the one who had proposed 
the wager, “as usual, a lone hand.” 

Then throwing the cards on the table, the 
learner said, “Boys, I am done with the game”, 
and never since that day fifty years ago has he 
failed to keep his word. 

To those who would know the sequel, the 
three who enticed the fourth to play continued 
to “play for fun” until it led to gambling, gam¬ 
bling led to first one evil and then to another 
until all three of those young men “went to the 
bad”, while the fourth pursued his determina¬ 
tion to avoid the doubtful things, became a 
Christian and now, for many years, has been a 
minister of the Gospel of Christ, esteemed by 
his brethren and blessed of God in his work. 
The secret of the difference in the lives of the 
four is that three of them kept on playing and 
the fourth quit. 

Young man, you are setting the pace for your 
whole life, and the things you are doing now, 
the habits you are forming, the tastes you are 
cultivating, are determining the trend of your 
life in the days to come, for just as the abun¬ 
dance of fruit gathered in autumn and stored 
away for the comfortable support of life dur¬ 
ing the cold, dreary wintertime depends upon 
the springtime planting, so the prosperity of 


202 


Men Wanted. 


/ 


middle life and the comforts of old age depend 
upon a well spent youth. 

Today is full of opportunity for the young 
man. Never before has the youth of our coun¬ 
try enjoyed such opportunity as this twentieth 
century affords—never before such educational 
advantages; the, doors of the best colleges in 
the land are open to every young man who will 
enter. Never before has the world teemed with 
such choice literature as we have today. No 
young man is excusable for being ignorant, no 
matter how poor he may be. 

Never before has the 'Christian Church done 
so much for the young people as she is doing 
today. Realizing the importance of young 
manhood, the church is trying as never in all 
the past to enlist our young people in the ser¬ 
vice of the Master. Think of the young 
peoples’ societies organized in the various 
churches, and then that inter-cliurch and inter¬ 
national society, the Y. M. C. A. What wonder¬ 
ful agencies for the spiritual development of 
the young people! If the young people of to¬ 
day are not stronger mentally, morally and 
spiritually; if they are not better citizens, bet¬ 
ter Christians than their parents have been, 
they must certainly answer for the abuse cf 
privileges their parents never enjoyed. 

All these agencies I have enumerated are 
most helpful, if improved; but they are only 
helps. A young man may attend upon any or 
all of them and still stop short of the one es- 


Religion. 


203 


sential thing, which is the consecration of his 
life to the service of God. These things are all 
efficient, but not any or all of them combined 
are sufficient. They may promote correct 
habits and respectful attendance upon public 
worship, but there must be in the soul's affec¬ 
tions a love for God and for His service that 
makes us perfer His service to all other things, 
for it is a fact known to every one that we are 
most like what we love most. If a man love 
money for money's sake, he will become miser¬ 
ly and worship his gold; but if he loves his God 
and his fellow man, regards his money merely 
as a means of serving God and humanity, then 
he will put goodness ahead of any other idea of 
greatness, and goodness, after all, is the only 
true greatness. Wealth, position and worldly 
honors are not the things of first importance, 
although the false testimony of this world may 
say they are. The Scriptures teach that if we 
‘ ‘ Seek first the kingdom of God and His right¬ 
eousness and all these things shall be added." 

We read that when Solomon had become king 
of Israel God appeared to him and commanded 
him to ask what he most desired, and when Solo¬ 
mon asked for the wisdom that God only could 
give, God said to him, “Because thou hast not 
asked riches, wealth or honor, nor the life of 
thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life 
* * * , wisdom and knowledge is granted unto 
thee: and I will give thee riches and wealth and 
honor such as none of the kings have had that 


204 


Men Wanted. 


have been before thee, neither shall there any 
after thee have the like.” 

A man may be great in the estimation of the 
world, and yet be a moral imbecile and a spirit¬ 
ual pigmy. Many a life has appeared to the 
eye of this world a success that will prove to 
have been a miserable failure when viewed in 
the light of eternity. There the tinsel of wealth 
and the thin veneer of social respectability that 
may pass current here will avail nothing; but 
character that may sometimes have been dis¬ 
counted here by those who never learned to ap¬ 
preciate its importance, will challenge the ap¬ 
proval of God and win the admiration of an as¬ 
sembled universe. He is the greatest man that 
treads this earth who is greatest in goodness. 
Such a man may be as poor as Lazarus was, 
but he is happy in the consciousness of his own 
integrity, and in that he shares the favor of 
God. 

The opening words of the Bible are these. 
“In the beginning God.” You cannot put so 
many words together otherwise that will make 
so armropriate and helpful a motto for your 
life as these. Hang them on the walls of your 
bed-chamber where they will greet you when 
you open your eyes in the morning, and so let 
your waking thought be of God; place them over 
your desk in the office where you transact busi¬ 
ness, and begin every business enterprise un¬ 
der God’s direction in answer to your prayer. 
In all the relations of life acknowledge Him; 


Religion. 


205 


let the habits of your life be religious; let the 
world know that you fear God and are trying to 
serve Him. 

This world sets great store by post mortem 
glory, and for this vast sums of money are 
spent in building stone and bronze into costly 
monuments; but there is no such monument the 
sculptor can build as that which a man builds 
in the imperishable character that he develops. 

Thank God, there is among all the perishing 
and transient things of time and human exist¬ 
ence one thing indestructible, one possession 
that time cannot efface nor the exigencies of 
human circumstances depreciate, nor death de¬ 
stroy. It is character—noble, Christian charac¬ 
ter—and for the development of this you will 
need the divine assistance, for character is de¬ 
veloped by discipline, and the discipline that de¬ 
velops Christian character is obedience to the 
will and word of God. 

As you approach the city of Philadelphia the 
first two objects which meet your eye are the 
statue of William Penn, on the top of the City 
Hall, and the spire of a Christian church - 
manly integrity and religious worship. These 
are the distinguishing virtues of heroic man¬ 
hood; rugged honesty, unswerving fidelity to 
right principles, uncompromising integrity in 
business and purity of moral and Christian 
character that goes untarnished through the 
swash of social impurity and commercial dis- 


206 


Men Wanted. 


honesty that meets the young man of today as 
he enters the social and business world; and 
that integrity and moral purity maintained be¬ 
cause it is buttressed and reinforced by a vital 
relationship to God, that, as the anchor holds 
the ship firmly and safely in spite of opposing 
winds and tides, holds him and prevents him 
from drifting on the rocks where others have 
stranded. 

Who can appreciate the security of the man 
whose character bears^the seal of God’s approv¬ 
al! Who can estimate, what arithmetic can ex¬ 
press in figures, the worth of the conviction “I 
know I am right.” What is it worth to a man 
when he is old to review his dealings with his 
fellow man and be able to say “ Which of you 
convinceth me of sin!” What will it be worth 
to you when you are about exchanging worlds, 
facing the judgment bar of God, to be able to 
say with confidence, Let the courts convene; 
let the books be opened; let my accusers be 
brought in; turn on the light, for I know I shall 
be vindicated in the great assize, for through 
my life time I have lived and walked under the 
advice and counsel of the Judge. 


The Coming Man. 


Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
Father which is in heaven is perfect.” 

Jesus Christ. 

“Looking unto Jesus * * * till we all 

come in the unity of the faith arid of the knowl¬ 
edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.” 

St. Paul. 

* . 

“Mark the perfect man, and behold the up¬ 
right: for the end of that man is peace.” 

David. 

• “Christ also loved the church and gave Him¬ 
self for it * * * that Tie might present it to 
Himself, a glorious church; not having spot or 
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be 
holy, and without blemish.” St. Paul. 


If in some wayside spot you should chance 
to come upon a rare flower growing there un¬ 
cultivated and neglected, yet beautiful and frag¬ 
rant, having a knowledge of botany you would 
perhaps break it from its stem to examine it, 
and as you did so two questions would demand 
of you an answer: First, to what class or fam¬ 
ily does this plant belong! Second, what are 
its peculiar qualities and what the possibilities 
of its development and improvement! These 




208 


Men Wanted. 


questions you would soon decide to your own 
satisfaction by a careful examination of the 
plant and its flower. 

Then if you should subsequently find in the 
conservatory of some florist the same plant but 
much more highly developed, you would know 
that in that wild flower were all the possibilities 
of this finer specimen of the same species, lack¬ 
ing only care and cultivation for its develop¬ 
ment, and you would likely say that a plant hav¬ 
ing in it such capabilities of beauty should not 
be left unnoticed and uncultivated to grow and 
bloom in the tangled, weedy waste. 

What that plant growing there by the way- 
side is to the other growing yonder in the con¬ 
servatory, man in his present, natural, imper¬ 
fect condition is to what man is to be in the 
future, even in this present life; and what that 
perfect plant is to the natural in its undeveloped 
state, the perfect humanity of Jesus, God’s 
ideal manhood, is to our imperfectly developed 
humanity, and shows us clearly not alone what 
God desires us to be but what he proposes we 
shall be, and what he intends the Gospel of re¬ 
storation shall make us. The gospel contem¬ 
plates the realization of the divine ideal in us. 

We are to be like Jesus. All who believe in 
Jesus and in the power of His word and spirit 
believe that, and the only question is how much 
of this likeness is posible in this present, mortal 
state? If this likeness is possible at all, what 
reason for deferring the expectation of it until 


The Coming Man. 


209 


we have entered upon the future state? Is 
death necessary in order to realize the highest 
type of moral character? Are we dependent 
upon this purely physical change of being for 
the enjoyment of a blessing which is entirely a 
change of moral nature, and is to be the result 
of the operation of divine grace upon our 
hearts? God’s purpose is to develop moral 
character in living men, and the standard every¬ 
where set us in the Gospel is perfection in the 
sight of God; and unless this standard is reach¬ 
ed as the final effect of the Gospel, the divine 
purpose will not be realized and man will fail 
of the high privilege contemplated in the Gos¬ 
pel plan of redemption. 

But our development in morality and our 
attainments in virtue will not depend on the 
ability and goodness of Christ alone, or on the 
power there is contained in His truth to renew 
us, but upon our attitude toward and our re¬ 
lation to both. In the tropics, beautiful foliage, 
fragrant flowers and delicious fruit abound 
everywhere, while in the North, mountainous 
icebergs and desert wastes of snow absorb with¬ 
out perceptible effect the rays of the same sun¬ 
light. Jesus and His truth are the great source 
and centre of lifegiving power, and our nature 
will be as fruitful and fragrant as the tropics 
or as sterile and cold as the northern glaciers 
according to the attitude and relation we sus¬ 
tain to Him. 

Jesus says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even 


210 Men Wanted. 

as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. ” 
Paul says we are to come “in the unity of the> 
faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, 
unto a perfect man.” There is a standard set 
us, “a perfect man.” What is the probability 
that we will ever reach it! I reply that not 
only do the Scriptures teach this standard will 
be realized, but the signs of the times certainly 
indicate that we are advancing toward it. Con¬ 
sider what man was when Christianity found 
him 2,000 years ago, a creature of appetite and 
passion, influenced and controlled mainly by 
motives that appealed to his baser nature; and 
see what it has done for him already, and if, 
with so unpromising a subject to begin with, it 
has lifted him as high as it has at the present 
time, taking him as it finds him today, what will 
it not do for him within the next 5,000 or 10,000 

vears? 

* 

How changed are his thoughts and all his 
conduct as it relates to his social life! Once, 
might v r as right, and the strong might with im- 
pugnity oppress the weak. War was justified 
on almost any pretext, and the vanquished had 
no rights that the victor was bound to respect, 
but now war is justifiable only as a last resort 
and then only in defense of the inalienable 
rights of man. So also with human slavery, 
polygamy and other kindred evils that the in¬ 
telligence and Christian integrity if this age 
have forever condemned. To entertain a feel¬ 
ing of compassion and pity for the poor and un- 


The Coming Man. 


211 


fortunate was once considered a human weak¬ 
ness—it was unmanly—but Christianity has ele¬ 
vated it to the plane of the noblest virtue and 
glories most in giving and helping where help 
is most needed. Once, to be deformed or crip¬ 
pled was not only a misfortune but was regard¬ 
ed as a crime, and the highest ideal of justice 
justified the slaying of all such; but Christian¬ 
ity makes these a special trust, and for their 
care and comfort builds the infirmary and the 
hospital. 

This evolution of humanity is from brute 
force to intellectual power; from the oppression 
of might to the exercise of mercy; and from in¬ 
human severity to Christlike pity. It is in its 
results, first of all, toward increased longevity. 
The decency and moderation that Christianity 
enjoins are already producing a better type of 
physical manhood, and the nine hundred and 
sixty-nine years of Methuselah may yet again 
be realized. 

It is constantly toward a much higher stand¬ 
ard intellectually. '“The eye of intelligence is 
always toward the future”, and to its vision 
there is practically no limit. Who can foretell 
the influence of an idea? Ideas are immortal 
and when once launched on the sea of intelli¬ 
gence will live forever. Men are what they 
think, and every discovery of science and every 
axiom of philosophy is but a crystalized 
thought; and the man who thinks toward the 
things necessary to human progress and happi- 


212 


Men Wanted. 


ness renders himself immortal. Watt, Mur¬ 
dock, Stephenson and Hancock can never die 
while the steam locomotive serves the wants of 
man. 

This fact is a phophecy of a future ideal man¬ 
hood, because behind and underneath the edu¬ 
cational agencies of to-day is the power of 
Christian thought. Our educational institutions 
are Christian in spirit, and the tendency is all 
the while toward a higher plane. William of 
Orange once asked the Dutch which they pre¬ 
ferred, freedom from taxation or a university? 
And they replied, “Give us a university.’’ The 
result was the University of Leyden, and out 
of that school came James Arminius, hence 
Arminianism; from Arminianism came Wes- 
leyanism in England; from Wesleyanism in 
England came Episcopal Methodism in Ameri¬ 
ca; and the future only can reveal its full re¬ 
sults. 

It is all the while toward a more highly spirit¬ 
ual man. Compare the standard of Christian 
manhood of todav with the best standards of 
antiquity: of Israel, Greece or Rome, which 
were the best representatives of existing civili¬ 
zations when Jesus came. They were the best 
that law and mere intellectual culture and con¬ 
quest could produce; but what was the best of 
that day and age compared with the Christian 
manhood of to-day? And yet the divine stand¬ 
ard is not higher to-day than it was two thou¬ 
sand years ago . We have simply raised the 


The Coming Man. 


213 


practice up nearer to the standard. Never has 
this world seen a more heroic type of manhood 
than the Christian manhood of this age, al¬ 
though the present type is far from perfection, 
and we are pressing on toward the mark assured 
that the promise we claim shall be fulfilled, the 
hope we entertain shall be realized. 

Nor are we alone in our anticipation of the 
coming man, but we differ mainly from others 
only as to the means by which we expect this 
high ideal to be reached. Those who believe in 
the doctrine of physical and mental evolution 
and reject the Bible statement as to the origin 
of man, who trace their origin from the mole¬ 
cule to the polliwog, and from thence to the 
fish or reptile and thence to the monkey, their 
immediate ancestor, find the completion of their 
system in an imaginary perfect humanity. They 
tell us this must be the final result, the logical 
end of a better way of living and the survival of 
the fittest; while we understand it to be the 
final effect, so far as this life is concerned, of 
the transforming power of divine grace and 
the reincarnation of the spirit of the living God. 

An ideal, if it shall mean anything to us, must 
be thoroughly practicable. The world is full of 
impracticable ideals and their effect is only to 
discourage. Abstract virtues amount to but 
little. It is only when we see the noble qualities 
that adorn human character exemplified in hu¬ 
man life and conduct that they mean anything 
to us. Men want practical religion or they want 


214 


Men Wanted. 


none, and an ideal that is not within the limit 
of attainment has in it no inspiration for them. 
The attractive power of the ideal set be¬ 
fore ns in the gospel is that it is attainable; 
not as the result of mere human evolution, but 
as the result of the combined influence of hu¬ 
man effort and Almighty power. 

Michael Faraday, who rose from the position 
of errand boy in a book store to the position of 
the prince of chemists and electricians, says: 
“High as man is placed above the creatures 
around him, there is a higher and far more ex¬ 
alted position within his view.” Who can tell 
how high we are placed above the creatures 
that surround us? How high is reason above 
blind instinct ? How much better is a man than 
a brute? What is the distance up from the in¬ 
animate clod, or withering leaf, or unthinking 
ox to the deathless soul, stamped with the image 
of the Deity and destined to live forever? Who 
can tell ? By what arithmetic will you calculate 
the distance that separates man here from his 
surroundings? And yet high as he is placed 
above his surroundings, there are yet infinitely 
greater achievements within his reach. 

The influences which are to produce this ideal 
man are: First, the natural evolution of the 
good that is inherent in humanity. I believe in 
the doctrine of human depravity, and in the 
sense that all men are to some extent depraved 
I believe in the doctrine of total depravity; but 
I do not believe that any man is naturally total- 


The Coming Man. 


215 


ly depraved. There is something good in every 
man, and in some unregenerated men the good 
is' so prominent that the evil is in subjection to 
the good—they are more good than bad, and 
there are many such. Human nature is not the 
mean and sordid thing that some would have us 
believe it to be, but contains the elements of 
the future ideal man. Unaided, it would never 
reach the ideal, but it will be easily transformed 
by the power of divine grace. Jacob, the sup- 
planter and deceiver that we see him in Beer- 
sheba, seems but a poor character out of which 
to develop the patient, faithful patriarch and 
prince of God that he afterwards became; and 
yet all the elements of his noble, manly nature 
were there. “Like the beautiful pearl that lies 
enclosed within the shell of the dull oyster, the 
spirit of the coming age lies dormant in the 
present.” Tennyson never wrote better than 
when he said: 

“Yet I doubt not through the ages one unceasing pur¬ 
pose runs, 

And the thoughts of men are widened with the pro¬ 
cess of the suns.” 

There is much that is unjustifiable in human 
conduct to-day, even in good men—much that 
is wrong in human judgment, much that is per¬ 
verse in human affection; but there is more 
that is good and true and beautiful. There is 
much of moral obliquity and spiritual deprav¬ 
ity, but there is also an Eden where the Creator 
still comes and communes with His creatures. 


216 


Men Wanted. 


I have great confidence in humanity, fallen and 
ruined as it is and by sin estranged from God, 
for I have unbounded confidence in the Gospel 
that it is “the power of God unto salvation”, 
and is destined to lift man back to covenant 
favor and undisturbed communion with God, 
the Father of us all. 

To be earnest and active in all that is good; 
to be decided and positive in denouncing all 
that is wrong; to have pity for the weak and 
charity for the wayward and erring; to life up 
the fallen; to seek and save the lost; to give 
one’s self, as many are doing to-day, for the up¬ 
lift of the poor and despised—that is noble, it 
is Christ-like and it is progress toward the ideal. 

You cannot guess what will be the beauty or 
fragrance of a flower by examining the seed or 
bulb; you must plant it in the ground and let 
God’s sunshine warm it into life. No more can 
you know what is in a man until you have 
proved him. If you would know how much of 
good there is in humanity, how much of bene¬ 
volence and charity and human kindness, let 
the pestilence smite or the earthquake shake a 
city into ruins, or the flames devour or flood 
destroy; and when help is necessary see the 
response that humanity sends back to the un¬ 
fortunate, sometimes even by those from whom 
we scarce expected any response, as when the 
flood swept away Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the 
convicts who were confined in the Eastern Peni- 



The Coming Man. 217 

tentiary contributed five hundred dollars for 
the relief of the sufferers. 

The second influence that is to produce the 
ideal man is environment, the reflex influence of 
the good that surrounds him. We are better in 
proportion as the world we live in contains the 
elements of help, in proportion as that world is 
broad and good. It is largely the world in 
which the eagle lives that gives him his charac¬ 
ter, because he defies the storm and rises above 
it and lives in a realm unknown to other birds. 

“God built the mountains, grand and high, 

For men that soar and birds that fly; 

And left the low and swampy lands 
For Nature’s vile and groveling bands.” 

Bishop Warren, in his 4 4 Recreations in As¬ 
tronomy”, referring to the relative power of 
gravity in the different heavenly bodies, says 
that a man who would weigh one hundred and 
fifty pounds on our earth would not weigh more 
that three-quarters of an ounce in the moon, 
while in the sun he would weigh a ton and a 
half. There are some men who are content to 
live in the little, narrow world that is bounded 
everywhere by self, and they weigh little more 
as moral factors in the great plans of God and 
in the development of humanity than that man 
in the moon; while others live in the great, 
broad world of a liberal and charitable life, 
and they are like that man in the sun. It means 
vastly more to live in our world to-day than it 
did a hundred years ago. 


218 Men Wanted. 

“Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay," 

Then what will it mean to live a thousand 
or ten thousand years hence? Human imagina¬ 
tion cannot grasp the thought, but the Chris¬ 
tian manhood of to-day will march on toward it. 
Every day bears us onward toward the goal; 
every invention of science, every discovery of 
pholosophy and every development of art 
makes life grander and manhood nobler, while 
all the events of human affairs are timing their 
progress to the steady, onward march of God^s 
great nurpose in the development, through 
grace, of a perfect manhood—conformity to the 
type and pattern given us in the person of 
Jesus of Nazareth. 

The third developing agency is to be the 
direct and positive influence of the Gospel of 
Christ through the Christian church and the 
Christian school, religion and education. We 
are to come, says St. Paul, “in the unity of the 
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God 
unto a perfect man.” Religion without educa¬ 
tion tends toward fanaticism, superstition and 
extravagence, as illustrated by the Crusades in 
the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 
and by the believers in what in these modern 
times is known as Christian Science and Faith 
Healing. Education without religion leads to 
irreverence, skepticism and infidelity, but re¬ 
ligion and education lead man by the pathways 
of faith and knowledge up to God; and by these 



The Coming Man. 219 

the Heavenly Father proposes to give us back, 
even in this life, what we forfeited and lost by 
the fall. In short, by means of the Gospel, 
which is God’s remedial agency, man will be 
restored to the condition and relation from 
which by his transgression Adam fell. And 
this will not be by any new plan of redemption, 
nor by the substitution of any human evolution 
of the race for the divinely appointed means the 
Gospel provides for men to-day, but by the use 
of the same means—by justification, by regen¬ 
eration, by sanctification, by the power of an 
indwelling Christ man shall rise and take his 
place where the Creator intended he should 
stand, the companion of God and the peer of 
the angels. 

This righteousness will not be the exact type 
of Adam’s righteousness, for that was a right¬ 
eousness without the knowledge of sin, hence a 
sort of negative type; but man will be as pure 
and holy and good as the Gospel can make him, 
and Adam in his primeval glory was not better 
than that. 

Oh, what will it mean to realize this! We 
cannot tell now but it shall be. No doubt there 
are some who are skeptical and are ready to de¬ 
ny the possibility of such an experience, because 
they cannot understand how it can be; who say 
such a state is unreasonable and impossible. 
Well, even the carpenters who assisted Noah in 
building the ark were skeptics, but God’s pro¬ 
mise was fulfilled and the skeptics were over- 


220 


Men Wanted. 


whelmed in the Deluge. And so in spite of the 
skepticism of this age and of the weakness of 
the faith of those who do believe, God’s pur¬ 
pose will move on to its perfect realization. 
The prophecy of St. Paul in Ephesians 4:13 will 
be realized, completely fulfilled; and with the 
triumph of the Gospel, with man fully re¬ 
deemed and fully restored, the Millennium will 
dawn and the glorified Jesus will return to 
earth again as he has promised, and God and 
man shall dwell together. 

The conspicious element in the character of 
the perfect man is to be the “unity of the faith 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” In 
the future, how far distant we cannot tell, there 
is coming a day when Christianity will be homo¬ 
geneous, whereas it is now heterogeneous; when 
the various sectarian creeds and dogmas which 
now divide Christians into separate clans and 
cleavages will be merged into one composite 
and harmonious whole; and to the careful ob¬ 
server there is evident to-dav a decided drift in 

* 

this direction. Church unity, Christian frater¬ 
nity and interdenominational evangelism is the 
watch-word of the church to-day in a sense and 
to a degree that it has never been before. The 
essentials of true Christianity are really few, 
and when we have learned enough to enjoin 
these and stop there, we shall be growing in 
the right direction. 

Christianity is yet in its tutelage and may 
require the stays and checks of denomination- 


The Coming Man. 221 

alism, but by and by, when it shall have reached 
its majority, it will throw these off forever and 
rise to the higher plane indicated by the words 
of Jesus when He said, “The hour cometh when 
ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Je¬ 
rusalem, worship the Father * * * but the 

true worshipper shall worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketli such 
to worship Him” 

The place where, or the manner in which men 
worship, matters little to the Father. There are 
many things we believe now, and some for which 
we contend earnestly, that are not essential to 
salvation; but in the future men will cease con¬ 
tending about these non-essentials and be con¬ 
tented with the sifted fundamentals that have 
to do with our salvation and God’s eternal 
glory. Calvanists and Arminians will cease 
arguing about “election” and the “eternal de¬ 
crees”; Romanist and Protestant will no longer 
contend with each other about the antiquity of 
creeds or the rightful claim to apostolical au¬ 
thority, or “apostolical succession”; when the 
peculiar denominational rites and beliefs that 
now divide the followers of Christ into a need¬ 
less variety of sects will be merged into one con¬ 
fession; and the creed of a universal Christian¬ 
ity will be “One Lord, One Faith, One Bap¬ 
tism”, and to that simple article of faith broad, 
grand, sublime, Jew and Gentile will subscribe. 

The knowledge referred to is knowledge of 
the Son of God and His salvation. I need not 


222 


Men Wanted. 


say that the man of the future will excel in his 
knowledge of material things and of their pos¬ 
sible uses to man. Christianity has long since 
demonstrated its usefulness to mankind as a 
source of blessing in temporal things. Every 
scientific invention, every discovery of chemis¬ 
try, every blessing the arts have brought us is 
an item on the credit side of Christianity’s ac¬ 
count with mankind; and under its benign in¬ 
fluence the human mind will continue to move 
forward, exploring the unknown and discover¬ 
ing the hitherto unseen, until possibilities the 
most remote from our comprehension today 
will be discovered, arts and sciences will be mul¬ 
tiplied and magazines of force and power as 
yet unknown will be discovered and utilized. 
Let no man for one moment suppose the art 
of discovery and invention is as yet at its best, 
for this is only the dawn of the blazing day that 
is coming. Mr. Edison, when asked if he did not 
think the end of discovery had about been 
reached, replied, “The end of discovery 
reached? No, there is no end.” Then what 
must the full orbed day reveal? 

When an evil spirit possessed King Saul, 
David, with his magic touch upon the harp, 
drove that evil spirit out. Is there not a pro¬ 
phecy in this little matter of history that has 
never yet been properly interpreted? There is 
a power in music and in all that is beautiful in 
Nature and in art that has never been applied 
as it will be some day. When we look about us 


The Coming Man. 


009 

and see the vast majority of the sick and in¬ 
valid part of humanity, the wonder is not that 
so many die but that so many recover as do. 
They lie in miserable hovels and in dark, un¬ 
sanitary tenements where scarce a ray of God’s 
bright sunshine ever enters, where the very at¬ 
mosphere is laden with contagion and death, 
where there is nothing but poverty and want 
and gloom—men and women shut up in the ; 3 
miserable quarters, who never heard a Chris¬ 
tian song or the strains of an orchestra. They 
know nothing, absolutely nothing of the in¬ 
spiration of the beautiful, and when sickness 
comes, melancholy that often ends in suicide ac¬ 
companies it. Do you wonder that they die! 

This Christian nation has never yet realized 
.the crime it has committed against what is 
known as the pauper and criminal classes. We 
have not done our whole duty toward these 
when we have simply provided for the housing 
and feeding of them on the commonest kind of 
food, as though they were not capable of en¬ 
joying the more palatable and nutritious food 
which we demand for ourselves and for our 
families. 

True enough “sin leads to poverty and pun¬ 
ishment”, but is it not just as true that poverty 
and punishment lead to sin! Are there not pau¬ 
pers who are such on account of having failed 
in the business life because help was not given 
them at a time when they might have succeeded! 
Are there not prisoners who sinned because they 


224 


Men Wanted. 


came to a place in life when they felt like David 
felt when he said, “No man cared for my soul?” 
There must and will come a day when our pris¬ 
ons will be kept with regard to the health and 
morals of the inmates, and when the unfortu¬ 
nate who are incarcerated there will be regarded 
as human beings, and not, as is too often the 
case, as though they were beasts, devoid of hu¬ 
man feelings and incapable of appreciating a 
kindness. Our almshouses, insane asylums and 
hospitals will then become veritable conserva¬ 
tories of flowers and music, where the frag¬ 
rance of roses as sweet as those of Sharon, the 
song of birds and the sweet witchery of music 
will be employed to drive away the sad melan¬ 
choly that often prevents recovery, and lift the 
sick and dying into new life, comfort and health. 

There is no telling what the man of the fu¬ 
ture will be when the accumulated light and in¬ 
telligence of ten thousand years shall focalize 
in a single mind. What will civil and political 
government mean when they shall “beat their 
swords into plowshares and their spears into 
pruning hooks? when nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more”, but when peace and mercy and 
righteousness shall fill the earth? What of 
social morality when the higher standard of 
morals shall have put to shame and forever 
condemned the social sins of today, and moral 
and social purity, unsullied virtue and honor 
shall characterize the age? 


The Coming Man. 


225 " 


What will man he spiritually when the fuller 
light of "Revelation shall have forever swept 
away the lingering mists of skepticism and un¬ 
belief, when with the mind unshackled and the 
body redeemed from the bondage of sin, a re¬ 
newed manhood redeemed, sanctified and all 
but glorified shall stand erect in the likeness of 
his Maker, lit for the highest heaven and for 
the society of the pure who stand in the pres¬ 
ence of the Majesty on high or throng the gold¬ 
en streets of the Eternal City, only waiting un¬ 
til the Lord shall descend with the shout of tri¬ 
umph to claim the kingdom and bring his wait¬ 
ing children home? 

What shall he be? St. Paul tells us by a brief 
reference to his own experience when he says, 
(Galatians 2:20) “I am crucified with Christ, 
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, 
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
me and gave Himself for me.” The actual 
status of the man is “ crucified ’ ’, yet living. 
Dead unto the world and sin, but all alive unto 
God. It is a life that is dominated and con¬ 
trolled by a higher nature that is living in him, 
who is none other than Christ. And what is it 
for Christ to live in a human life but for His 
law to dominate and control and govern the 
life? 

The medium of this incoming power, He tells 
us, is faith. There is no limit to the power of 
Christian Faith, and the only reason why we 


226 


Men Wanted. 


I 


are not better and stronger Christians than we 
are is because of the infirmity of our faith. But 
God will help the faith of humanity, and one 
day it will come to be that men will believe the 
Gospel and accept its promises and act upon 
them, with the same simple faith and confidence 
that they now act upon the dictate of reason 
and faith in the certainty of Nature’s laws. 

The apostle Paul has described in the 13th 
chapter of First Corinthians the spirit by which 
this man is actuated in all his relations to and 
dealings with his fellow men, and it is by 
“Love, that is not easily provoked, that think- 
eth no evil, that envieth not, that vaunteth not 
itself, that seeketh not her own, that suffereth 
long and is kind ”—a love that never faileth. 
He lives not under the old law of “an eye for 
an eye”, but on the higher plane of the Golden 
Rule, and learns to do good even to those who 
despitefully use and entreat him. Oh, there is 
something grand and noble, something sublime 
in a nature that is capable of rising so high as 
that! 

Thank God for the visions we get even now 
of the man of the future and for the evidences 
we have of the nobility that still lingers in our 
humanity. That is the standard by which we 
are to measure ourselves, not by the best men 
of the past or even of the present, but by the 
man of the future, “until we all come in the 
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man”. 


The Coming Man. 227 

Yonder in the dim, distant future I see him. 
A thousand ages are behind him, ages of weak¬ 
ness and error, of mistakes and failure, of ig¬ 
norance and superstition; ages in which wrong 
was mistaken for right, evil for good and error 
for truth; ages when the progress of the race 
was slow, but the race never for a moment 
stood still since first the light of gospel day 
dawned on man. 

Agencies great and small, willing and unwill¬ 
ing; influences divine and human; circum¬ 
stances of ease and toil, of poverty and wealth, 
of rest and unrest, of comfort and discomfort, 
have borne him onward. By the discipline th it 
necessity laid upon him, by peace and by strife, 
by friendly assistance and by embarrassing op¬ 
position, by life and by death, yet victor over 
all, he has gone forward until he stands the 
grand exponent of God’s great idea of true and 
perfect manhood. He is so like his God that he 
reflects His glory, so sincerely fraternal with 
his brethren that no unworthy motive or igno¬ 
ble impulse, no injustice, nor envy, nor deceit, 
nor falsehood in conversation or conduct sep¬ 
arates him from them; but rich in virtue and 
knowledge, and in all the graces which adorn 
true, manly character, he challenges the admir¬ 
ation of angels and wins the approval of God. 

The great eternity is before him, and as 
perfection of nature is the essential condition of 
the highest development, what shall man’s fu¬ 
ture be? In him “the near and future blend in 


228 


Men Wanted. 


one”, heaven and earth, time and eternity are 
interwoven with each other; and who can tell 
where the mortal leaves off and the immortal 
begins? What shall the difference be whether 
the dwelling of God shall be with men on earth, 
or the Father shall take His children up from 
earth to dwell with Him in heaven? 

Now, we can the better appreciate what St. 
Paul means when he says in speaking of those 
who shall be alive at the second coming of 
Christ, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all 
be changed (i.e., the mortal shall become im¬ 
mortal) in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the 
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall 
be changed”. 

[ imagine that day for which all other days 
exist, and to which they are sending up their 
records, is come. The great drama of human 
life on earth is enacted and the curtain is roll¬ 
ing down never to rise any more. The music 
of the spheres # is hushed. The machinery of 
the universe stands still. The stars that, since 
the day when first they sang together their 
Maker’s praise, have kept their ceaseless vigils 
in the skies, now, like weary sentinels released 
from duty, march away and disappear forever, 
and the skies, no longer radiant with light of 
sun or star, are mantled in mottled midnight. 
Impenetrable gloom has settled on high noon. 
Day has gone out forever. The end of all things 
earthly is at hand. 


The Coming Man. 


229 


Above this scene of desolation where ‘ ‘ confu¬ 
sion worse confounded reigns”, the heavens are 
rent in twain and parting clouds reveal the pre¬ 
paration for the Judgment of the last great day. 
The Judge is on the throne, the hooks are open 
before Him, and now above the din and clash of 
worlds, louder than the crash of a collapsing 
universe, is heard the voice of the Judge say¬ 
ing, “Behold, I come quickly and my reward is 
with me to give to every man according as his 
work shall be”. Now, see the ungodly in their 
vain attempts to escape—for some will be as 
notoriously wicked in that day as others are 
conspicuous in righteousness. Hear them call 
on the dissolving rocks and mountains to fall 
upon them and hide them from the face of Him 
who sitteth upon the throne, when the rocks 
and mountains shall have forever fled away, 
and the hail of Almighty wrath has forever 
swept away the refuge of lies. 

But see also, standing yonder, unmoved by 
the wreck and ruin that everywhere meets his 
gaze, with his eye fixed on the great white 
throne; conscious of his own integrity, the con¬ 
queror of evil, the wonder of the angels and per¬ 
fect in the sight of his God; with nothing to 
fear from the issues of the approaching Judg¬ 
ment, waiting, almost impatient, stands God’s 
ideal and the fulfillment of our highest hope, 
our utmost desire, the PERFECT MAN; and 
he answers the challenge of the Eternal Judge: 
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come”. 

























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